


Half of a Whole

by Sithindor



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: ALL THE ANGST, F/F, F/M, I haven't thought this through so bear with me, I hope to explore some of my own personal theories, I'll add more tags as I think of them, as well as some I've probably read elsewhere, begins after Lars's Head, dealing with heartbreak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2018-11-19 11:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11312367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sithindor/pseuds/Sithindor
Summary: Before Rose Quartz gave up her physical form to create Steven, she pulled Garnet aside and asked her to become the new leader of the Crystal Gems. It was now in her hands to take care of the Earth, the Crystal Gems, and Rose's son, Steven.But now, after the latest and most tragic close call with the Diamonds, Garnet doesn't know if she's still up for the job. Steven may be safe, but the human teenager Lars and a band of Off Color Gems are stuck on Homeworld with no way to Earth. And the terrifying visions Garnet has been seeing of the future aren't helping her think logically. All she can think is, what will become of her friends if something unthinkable happens to their leader?





	1. Poofed (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! One thing you should know about me is that I am a HUGE fan of theories. And for some reason this strikes me as a perfect time to make theories about Steven Universe. There's so much we know about Gems by now, but there's also so much the show hasn't yet explored. And what better way to explore and voice a bunch of theories than to write a fanfiction? While a lot of the theories I'll be exploring are my own, some of them I have read elsewhere or heard from others. So if anyone has an idea they'd like me to include, just leave it in the comments and I'll see if I can work it in.
> 
> Also, while I'm a huge fan of Garnet, I don't think it's fair to fans that we never get to see Ruby and Sapphire for more than an episode at a time. They need more characterization! They need to be put through hell on their own to see how they survive without the other to fuse with! (Okay I'm not going to put them through HELL, but you know what I mean.) Even saying this, I love Garnet too much to be okay with something happening to Ruby or Sapphire canonically. So fanfiction it is!
> 
> (Oh yeah. Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its characters.)

"None of this is of any use! It's been  _weeks_ and we still have no plan!" Eight people, Gems and humans, were sitting around the Temple's kitchen table to discuss plans of action. "We have no ship so we can't fly to Homeworld-"

"Pearl, calm down." Garnet put a hand on her shoulder. "Soon Steven will be back with news from the Off Colors, and we'll learn that we have more time than we expected to think something up. Well, either that or..."

"Or  _what?_ You're not telling me that something terrible has-"

Garnet put her hand up to silence her. "It's an unlikely possibility, so let's not dwell on it. Amethyst?" The Gem had been raising her hand.

"Why don't we just go through the human's head and steal a ship from Homeworld?" Amethyst suggested. "There are probably tons of them just lying around. I've stolen cars before, how much harder can a ship be?"

"The answer is no, Amethyst," Garnet said. "I've said before it's too dangerous."

"How is that any more dangerous than flying to Homeworld?"

"I still vote we get the Gems to come here through the kid's head," Lapis said, "and then at least most of them would be safe. I don't get why all of them have to be so  _heroic_."

"Yeah!" Peridot added. "The robonoids can't sense humans, so what's the harm?"

"No!" the three humans present said in unison.

"We're not leaving Lars behind anywhere!" Sadie said.

"Humans help humans!" Connie said. She and Greg high-fived.

Peridot groaned and facepalmed.

"That plan has been vetoed before, Peridot. Lapis. We need to think of something else." Garnet touched her chin. "Perhaps the only way... I have a possible plan, but..." Everyone was staring at Garnet. Garnet had had a plan for a week now, but it was a suicide mission. And it would require the future to take the most dangerous path today for the circumstances to align perfectly to pull it off. Her Sapphire half was all for it; she knew that despite the odds, it was still doable. But Ruby was against it. Not only would Sapphire's plan jeopardize everyone who would go on the mission, it would more likely than not mean the death of Garnet herself. Of all the potential outcomes of the mission, only one consisted of Garnet coming back to Earth alive and whole. Her two halves had argued over this so much that they had become undone twice that week. Deep down, Garnet knew that Sapphire was the logical one of her two halves. But Ruby followed her gut. And her gut was often right. "My idea is out as well. It's too risky. Does anyone else have-"

"GARNET AMETHYST PEARL EMERGENCY!!!" Steven tumbled out of Lion's mane and onto the living room floor. "THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN WE NEED TO GO TO HOMEWORLD NOW!"

The future had chosen its path. Now they had no choice. It was time to pull off Sapphire's plan, Plan Impossible.

 

"Garnet Garnet let's go we need to hurry!" Steven tugged on Garnet's leg.

"Hold on little man." She picked him up. "Tell us exactly what happened."

"Lars and the Off Colors got captured! It wasn't the robonoids because they weren't shattered. They're in prison somewhere! Lars is behind bars and he doesn't know where the Gems are. We have to go help!"

Garnet took a deep breath, feeling her heart rate pick up. This was exactly how she saw it. Either they would save everyone and escape on a ship back to Earth or... it was cloudy. But whatever it was, it was very, very bad. She put Steven down shakily.

"Garnet?" he asked. She looked into that innocent face. After everything he had seen, after everything he had survived, he was still Garnet's little baby. And she wouldn't let him down.

But she hadn't been this scared since she saw that vision of Blue Diamond discovering them all. She blinked back oncoming tears. "Amethyst. Pearl. Connie. The five of us are going to Homeworld to rescue Lars and the Off Colors. The rest of you, hold down the fort until we're back. It may be awhile."

"I'm coming too," Sadie said, standing up. "If Lars is in trouble, I have to be there for him."

"No," Garnet said.

"But-"

Garnet put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand how much Lars means to you, but Homeworld is too dangerous for humans."

"But Connie's going with you."

"Connie has been training with Pearl for months. Listen. I know how hard it is to accept this. I know how much you want to help, and I appreciate it, but Lars will never forgive himself if you get hurt. I need you to stay here. Go give the news to his parents." ("And run the Big Donut!" Steven added.) "Can you do that?"

"I- I guess."

"Thank you Sadie. I know I can count on you." Garnet gave her her best Mom Smile. "Crystal Gems, move out!"

 

"Dude, how many people did you bring?" Lars grunted as Steven pulled Amethyst out of his head. Garnet had to squat in the cramped cell.

"Sorry Lars. Just- one- more!" Amethyst collapsed to the ground, and Lars sat up, rubbing his neck.

"A little warning next time would be great, Steven."

Amethyst giggled. "I just came out of somebody's head."

"Quiet, all of you!" Garnet said. Everyone fell silent. "This has to be a stealth mission. We  _cannot get caught_ , understand?"

"So how do we get out without breaking through the bars?" Pearl asked, running her finger down the metal. "This is truly archaic."

Amethyst cracked her knuckles. "I've got this." She transformed into a cat and squeezed trough the bars before returning to her original form. She studied the lock, then stuck a finger into it. "Ha! Easy." She twisted her finger and the door unlocked and swung open on silent hinges. When she pulled her finger out of the lock it was shaped as a key. "Ta da!"

"Amethyst that was amazing!" Connie whispered.

"Let's get moving. My future vision tells me that the others are this way." Garnet's anxiety was rising as she led the Crystal Gems and the humans through the building. She didn't know how this was going to turn out, and dwelling on it was not helping her focus on navigating the maze-

"Garnet!" Pearl whispered, pulling her into a doorway. A dark blue Sapphire and two Jasper guards walked past them, evidently not noticing the escapees. Pearl sighed in relief. "Garnet what were you thinking? You nearly just got us caught."

"I'm sorry. I was distracted. Now, I wonder what a Sapphire is doing here?"

"And those Jaspers..." Amethyst trailed off.

"We have to keep moving or we'll never get out of here," Pearl said.

Garnet nodded. "The fastest way is where that Sapphire just went, but I can see another route. Follow me."

She led them back the way they came, then made a different turn. She stopped short, and the Crystal Gems all ran into her. Standing in their way was a party of assorted Gems, the Sapphire at their head.

"Look at that. The Crystal Gems have arrived," she said. "As forseen."

Garnet gasped, recognizing the thin white star on her dark gem.

"What is it?" the Star Sapphire continued with a smug smile. "Remember me, do you, Blue? Look at me now, answering to the Diamonds themselves. And what have you become? A permanent fusion with none other than a Ruby, a pet of Rose Quartz. You were always pathetic, but I never expected this of you. I guess even I can't predict everything. Because of this there is someone who wants to speak with you, which is why I used this human and the Off Color Gems to bait you here. Aren't I so smart. I always was the  _star_ among us Sapphires." She laughed.

This was news to Garnet, but she didn't let that show. "I see you still have your sense of humor. That is, your one joke."

"Well I must say it's one joke that never gets old, Blue."

"Uh Garnet," Amethyst asked, "do Sapphires usually talk like this?"

"No, this is just a Star thing. She's a special case." Garnet summoned her gauntlets. "I've always wanted to beat her to shards."

"I think your Ruby is getting the best of you, Blue. Guards, you know what to do with these traitors." Star Sapphire waved her hand and the enemy Gems advanced.

"Retreat!" Garnet yelled. They ran the way they came, but both ends of the hall were filled with enemy Gems. The Crystal Gems and humans faced outwards in a circle. "How the... STAR!"

"We're outnumbered! What do we do?" Pearl asked.

Garnet felt Steven's hand on her leg. He looked up at her with his innocent determination.

"We fight," Garnet said. "We don't go down easy. Steven, Connie, get out of here. Go back to Earth. I'm sorry, Lars, that you can't be saved too."

The teenager had tears in his eyes, but he did his best to hide it. "You guys did the best you could."

"No!" Steven said. "I'm not leaving! I'm fighting with you."

"Me too," said Connie.

"No! Leave!" But it was too late. The Gems got impatient with them and attacked.

"Why must humans be so difficult?" Garnet thought she heard Pearl mutter as she stabbed a Jasper.

After that it was a blur. Garnet punched Rubies and smashed Jaspers together and threw Topazes against walls. It was nice being in combat mode, because she was able to turn off her fear and let instincts take over. She saw Steven and Connie working together to protect Lars. Pearl was holding her own farther down the hall. Amethyst... she seemed to be completely ignoring the Jaspers and other Amethysts and was only going for the other types of Gems. All was going in their favor until Pearl was stabbed from the back by a Ruby, and she poofed. Then Steven tried to run to save her and he was clubbed unconscious by a Topaz. Garnet tried to move to his aid, but suddenly felt a searing pain in her midsection. She looked down and saw a blade sticking out from her naval.

Everything went black.


	2. The Diamond's Song (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Sorry for the super-long wait! Hopefully I'll be updating a bit more frequently now, there's just been so much going on that I haven't had any time to write. I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

"Amethyst, why hasn't she reformed yet? Does she usually take this long to reform? AMETHYST?!?"

"I dunno, dude. It's not every day that Garnet is poofed."

Pearl stared worriedly at the red gemstone inside the cell across from her own. "Sapphire reformed hours ago." She couldn't see her, but she could hear her pacing around her cell farther down the hall. "Ugh! This whole mission was a failure! Garnet's separated, we're caged, who knows where Steven, Lars, and Connie are, and we didn't even rescue the Off Colors! We may as well just be shattered."

"Well I've got one of those covered." In the cell next to Ruby was a Pearl. "We are the Off Colors." She spread her arms, gesturing to the other cells.

"You- the Off Colors? But Steven said- oh." To Ruby's left was an orange Sapphire, to the right of the Pearl was a two-bodied Gem, and various other Gems occupied seven other cages. Pearl of course had noticed them before, but hadn't realized they were anything other than ordinary prisoners. "Well this is a good start," Pearl said, her hopes rekindled. "At least we've found you!"

"So you're the Crystal Gems, are you? Lars and Steven have told us so much about you. It's an honor to meet another Pearl."

From the cell across from her own, Pearl saw a flash of light. It grew and became humanoid, taking shape until it became an angry red Ruby. 

"And take  _that!_ " Ruby punched the destabilizing barrier of the cell. "Ow! Wait... what?" She looked around. Pearl waved. "Are you  _kidding_ me? Again? Where's- Sapphire!  _Sapphire!"_

"Wow, the Crystal Gem Ruby is about to reform!" the orange Sapphire next to Ruby said.

"We know Padparadscha, it just happened," a voice said from the cell next to Pearl. "So hey, you Crystal Gems, how do we get out of here?"

"SAPPHIRE WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'M OVER HERE RUBY!" Sapphire called from down the hall.

"I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING WHAT'S GOING TO-"

"RUBY AND SAPPHIRE BE QUIET!" Pearl shouted. "We're not going to get anything accomplished if you keep yelling at each other! We need to find a way out of here! We need-"

The door at the end of the hall slid open. A blue Topaz walked in, past Pearl and towards the other end of the cell lock. Exactly what they needed, a chance to get information.

"Topaz! What do you want from us? Why are you keeping us here? Who do you work for? Why aren't you just shattering us?"

The guard ignored Pearl, continued walking until Pearl could no longer see her. She heard her deactivate an energy field, followed by a struggle.

"Unhand me, you big blueberry!"

"Sapphire?"

The Topaz was walking back the way she came, Sapphire tucked under her arm like luggage.

"SAPPHIRE!" Ruby shouted.

"I will-" but she was cut off when the Topaz clapped a hand over her mouth. They left the cell lock and the door shut behind them, and it was silent. Well, for a second.

"Sapphire wouldn't insult anyone unless she was really scared..." Ruby started, then became more aggressive. "She never tells me  _anything!_ She thinks that  _she_ should get to know everything while keeping it away from  _me_ _!_ As if I can't be trusted with the future..."

"Is your Ruby always like this?" the Off Color Pearl asked.

"Well, she's usually not a Ruby," Pearl responded. "She and Sapphire stay in a fusion, as Garnet."

"Your  _Ruby_ can hear you, Pearl!"

"Sorry Ruby." Ruby continued muttering angrily under her breath as she paced around her cell. 

"You know, I'm not usually a Pearl myself," the Off Color said. "I fuse with the Ruby next to you. We make Rhodonite."

"Ah yes, Rhodonite. Steven has told us about you."

The two Pearls fell into an awkward silence. Ruby had broken down into tears. Amethyst had been uncharacteristically silent, and none of the other Off Colors had spoken. Pearl could sense that morale was weakening.

"So what do we do now?" Amethyst asked as if on cue.

"I suppose we wait until something happens."

 

This was bad bad bad bad bad. Very bad. Very, very bad. When she was Garnet, Ruby knew something like this would probably happen. But even then, she hadn't known exactly what would happen to either Ruby or Sapphire. And now she didn't know  _anything_. What had Sapphire been about to say to her? She will be alright? She will be shattered and Ruby will have to learn to live without her from now on? What would Ruby even do? Would she be able to form Garnet with that Padparadscha Sapphire? She didn't know if she could continue living if she could never be Garnet again. 

It had felt like at least an hour and nothing had happened. Ruby had taken to sitting at the back of her cell, silently smoldering. Maybe the humans would come soon and rescue them. It was Sapphire's only hope.

 

The door at the end of the cell lock opened. "I found them!" a familiar voice said.

"Steven!" Pearl cried.

Amethyst ran to the front of her cell and saw Ruby do the same. "Hurry Steven let us out!" Ruby yelled. "We need to go find Sapphire! No time to lose!"

"Sapphire? What happened to Sapphire?" Steven used his arm to block the destabilizing energy shield, and Ruby ducked under it and out of the cell. Connie let Pearl out as Steven moved on to Amethyst.

"It appears we will all be saved by three humans! Lars and Steven and- oh! Someone we've never met before!" Lars smiled and let Padparadscha out of her cell. "Oh, thank you Lars!"

"Come  _on!"_ Ruby said. I can't wait for all of you!" She tried to run out of the cell lock, but Pearl held her back. "Let- me- go!"

"Ruby I understand how important Sapphire is to you - to all of us - but we don't know what we're facing, and we may need all of us to fight it. Not to mention that we need to stick together to make sure that we all get out of here."

Ruby stopped struggling and crossed her arms.

"How'd you guys get out?" Amethyst asked Steven. "They weren't stupid and put you behind destabilizers again, were they?"

"Nope! But I was smart. I copied your key fingers!" Steven proudly held of three fingers which were shape-shifted into keys.

"Woah dude that's awesome! It took me so long to learn how to do that!"

"Yeah, the only problem is that I don't know how to undo it... Hopefully it won't turn out like cat fingers..." He got back to freeing Gems, a worried expression on his face.

It wasn't long before all the Crystal Gems and Off Colors were out of their cells. Rhodonite refused, but Steven told the Gems that made up Fluorite not to, as they were aiming for stealth.

"When we were looking for you, Steven, Lars, and I found a hangar with loads of ships. We think that's our ticket out."

"You mean, our  _key_?" Steven said, holding up his key fingers and grinning.

"But we need to find Sapphire! She's our priority!" Ruby yelled.

Steven nodded. "If only I could know where she is..."

"I know." A purple Sapphire that Amethyst had never seen before stepped forward. She must have been part of Fluorite. "Follow me."

She left the cell lock, and everyone began to follow. "Team Earth, out," Amethyst said.

"But we can't leave without finding their Sapphire!" Rhodonite grabbed Padparadscha's arm and dragged her behind herself.

Amethyst followed behind Pearl and Ruby as they were led down corridors and navigated complicated turns. This Sapphire was doing a much better job than Garnet had at not getting caught. Then again, Amethyst had made some  _arrangements_ to ensure that they wouldn't be seen. She trusted that they wouldn't encounter any unfriendly Gems throughout the building.

"This is it," the Sapphire said, stopping in front of two tall doors. "In here you will find your Sapphire. But I warn you-"

Suddenly there was a loud noise, like a scream, or a song. Amethyst wouldn't remember it later. What she would remember was the creeping feeling she felt under her skin, like ants and beetles were eating her away from the inside. Her blood turned to lava, her skin began to melt, her bones began to break. It felt like her brain was freezing, shattering, shards of ice trying to break apart her skull.

"Steven!" Pearl screamed. "Put up your shield!"

Steven didn't have to be told twice. Instinct must have kicked in as he ran to the front of the group and summoned the largest shield Amethyst had ever seen him summon, pointing it at the doors. Instantly the sound was muffled, and Amethyst felt her pain fade. 

Ruby's eyes were wide. "I haven't heard that sound since..."

Pearl put a hand on her shoulder. She looked scared as well. "I know."

The sound faded and Steven put away his shield. "Do we have to go in there?"

"Yes," Ruby said. Even that one word was so full of fear that Amethyst began having doubts about going in herself.

"You know who's in there, Ruby, don't you?" Pearl asked.

Ruby nodded. "Who's in there?" Amethyst asked, but was ignored.

"And if Sapphire was in there you know-"

"Yes I know!" Ruby's voice broke and she wiped at her eyes. "But I still have to see for myself. Humans, go back to Earth. Lars, hide somewhere."

"For the second time, no! We're not leaving!" Steven said. "Sapphire is as important to us as she is to you, and we won't chicken out before finding her! I don't care what we find in there, we'll fight it."

"You're not going to give up, are you?" Ruby asked.

"No," all three humans said in unison.

"Then take this." Pearl summoned a spear from her gem and handed it to Lars, whose eyes lit up. "You'll need a weapon in there."

"Padparadscha, stay out here," Rhodonite said. "It's too dangerous in there for you.

"Is everyone else ready?"

"Ready."

"Then let's do this."

Rhodonite played with a panel until the doors opened. What greeted their eyes made Amethyst freeze. Her heart jumped into her throat. Sitting on a chair in the center of the room was none other than Yellow Diamond, her head in her hand and an aggravated expression on her face. By her feet were a dozen Gem monsters. They all looked in the direction of the opened door.

"We meet again, Rose Quartz," Yellow said. "Just on schedule. Have you come to shatter me too? Brought an army this time? My defenses are up; it won't happen."

"What? Mom- Mom didn't shatter Pink Diamond..." Steven said, then shook his head and drew his shield. "What did you do with Sapphire, you big lemon? We know you have her!"

"Steven no!" Ruby whispered.

Yellow Diamond laughed. "So you haven't come to do me in, how lucky for me. That traitorous Sapphire is all you want? I suppose you'll just have to go through my monsters first to get her."

The corrupted Gems bore their fangs and attacked. Yellow Diamond poofed one before she could reach them and pocketed the gemstone. Lars, Steven, and Connie, the latter two fused as Stevonnie, ran after a Gem that looked like one of the snow monsters they had fought. Pearl and Rhodonite went after another Gem. a pink Pearl and and the Rutile twins, the Sapphire and an Emerald, and a Peridot and two blue Apatites each teamed up and attacked separate Gems, while Amethyst got over her shock and went after one alone. Still they were outnumbered. Soon each group was being attacked by two Gem monsters, or three, in Amethyst's case. They must have singled her out as an easy target. Yellow Diamond was still watching them all, now looking like her favorite cartoon had just come on. Ruby was standing in the doorway, apparently unable to move, but instead was staring at the fighting in the center of the room.

At the center of the fighting were two Gem monsters that looked like a combination of an Articuno and a Rayquaza (what? Amethyst played Pokemon with Steven all the time), one a light blue and one a bit darker. They were keeping the friendly Gems at bay with their icy breath. Soon, the two Apatites were frozen solid and the Peridot was left hacking at the blocks of ice with her short sword as she tried not to get frozen herself. Ruby shook her head and ran to their aid, melting the ice with her fire powers.

As for the rest of the battle, the tide was turning in Team Earth's favor. Pearl and Rhodonite worked well as a team, and soon had poofed and bubbled three monsters. Stevonnie fought like it was their second nature, taking out enough monsters that it didn't matter how unfruitful Lars's efforts were. It was the thought that counted. With Stevonnie's help, Amethyst defeated all three of her monsters and bubbled them. Soon the groups all converged around the two birdlike Gem monsters, the only ones left.

"Let's finish this," Amethyst said. She jumped at the lighter blue one.

"WAIT!" Ruby threw herself between them. "Don't hurt her, Amethyst, please. That's- that's Sapphire!" She sobbed.

Amethyst's breath caught. "Sapphire? No- it can't be." But even as she denied it, Amethyst knew it was true. The icy breath, the blue color... And there was her gem on her right claw. Her whip dissolved in her hand.

Sapphire - or, what used to be Sapphire - noticed their hesitation. She spread her wings and reared back.

"Well if you don't get down she's going to hurt you!" Pearl pushed Ruby down and threw her spear over her head. It lodged into Sapphire's neck and she screeched. Taking that as their cue, all of Team Earth but Lars, Stevonnie, Ruby, and Amethyst split into two groups, each attacking a Sapphire.

"No!" Ruby screamed.

Stevonnie grabbed her wrist. "Here, you don't have to look," they said, pulling Ruby into a hug. Amethyst remembered when Garnet had done the same for Steven. That was different; they were on Earth, home territory with no Diamond breathing down their necks. Steven had the choice to resist, to beg to let the Centipeetle live with them. But now, it was only logical for Sapphire to be poofed and bubbled. It was the only was to get her home.

Amethyst felt her resolve harden. She drew another whip and joined the group attacking their Sapphire. Sapphire, realizing that she was losing, tried to rise into the air to escape the squadron of Gems attacking her, but Amethyst lassoed her around the wings and pulled her down with all her strength. She slammed into the floor and poofed. Amethyst picked up her gem and felt a tear forming at the corner of her eye. 

Pearl walked over to Amethyst and caressed the gem. "Ruby should bubble this."

"What are we going to do?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know." She summoned another spear and joined the Gems fighting the Star Sapphire.

Amethyst walked over to Ruby and the humans. She handed Sapphire's gem to Ruby, who bubbled it but didn't send it home.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby." The tears in her eyes didn't seem to help Ruby out at all. Soon she was all-out bawling.

"How did this happen?" Stevonnie asked. "How was she... corrupted?"

"I don't know," Amethyst said. There was another  _poof_. Pearl bubbled the other Sapphire and sent her home.

Yellow Diamond stood, clapping slowly. "For a bunch of misfits and traitors, that was an exceptional performance. I hadn't expected you to succeed. Unfortunately, I have no need for any of you. Blue Diamond has requested that the humans, and you, Rose Quartz, be sent to her human zoo. You're the only one who can possibly fix the mess that was created there. But as for the rest of you? I'll have the pleasure of shattering you." Out of the Gem on her chest, Yellow pulled a javelin and began walking towards Team Earth. Each step was like a mini earthquake... or Homeworldquake? Amethyst felt a surge of anger. She didn't know how corruption worked, but she was sure that Her Royal Yellow Jerkness was the cause of what happened to Sapphire. She was going to make her pay for what she did to Ruby. Amethyst pulled out another whip.

Everyone else seemed to have similar ideas. They all drew their weapons and charged. Rhodonite reached her first, but Yellow Diamond zapped her and she was instantly poofed. Then she swung her javelin, pushing the others back. Amethyst lassoed the weapon and tore it out of her hands, and Pearl, Lars, and Stevonnie took that opportunity to hack at one of her legs with their respective weapons. The other Gems began climbing up her body, and Amethyst tried to tie her legs together and trip her.

"Enough!" There was something like a sonic blast and Team Earth was thrown off of the Diamond and across the room. Pearl and half the Off Colors were poofed on impact with the far wall. With Pearl gone, Lars's spear disintegrated. "I will not allow myself to be disgraced by the likes of  _you_ traitorous Gems! Where are my guards? Where are the soldiers Blue Diamond sent?"

"What, are you too coward to fight us yourself? Do you think you're going to lose?" Lars and Amethyst had to restrain Ruby lest she attack Yellow Diamond single-handedly.

Yellow Diamond sighed. "I didn't want it to have to come to this  _twice_ today, but I suppose I have no choice." She closed her eyes, turned her head, and spread her arms, and her gem began to glow.

"That looks like the mural from the moon base," Stevonnie whispered.

"What's she doing?" Amethyst asked.

Yellow Diamond's eyes opened, and they were glowing Avatar-style. She opened her mouth and a horrible sound, the same one from before, filled the room. It was even worse than before. Without the door to separate them from the noise, Amethyst instantly felt the corruption taking effect. She looked down and saw claws instead of fingers. She began questioning what fingers even  _were_. She was forgetting who she was; she knew she was  _someone_ , but... who? She wanted to attack, to rend flesh. But no, that's not who she was, was it? There was something that could save her, something that could make her like she was before...

"Steven!" she screamed.

Stevonnie was already on it. They ran forward, apparently not as affected by the sound as everyone else. "I won't let you hurt any more of my friends!" They drew Steven's shield, so huge it filled the room, completely separating Team Earth from the Diamond. The sound was cut off, and Amethyst felt herself return to normal. She collapsed to the ground, breathing hard. The sound must have rococheted off the shield and back at the Diamond, because she was knocked backwards and sat on the ground with a  _thump_. She looked shocked, and Amethyst got the impression that she wouldn't be moving for the next few minutes. 

Stevonnie dissipated the shield. "Everyone, let's go! While she's still down!"

Amethyst got up with the help of Lars, whose ears were bleeding. They all began to run (or more like stumble) out of the room. Stevonnie and Amethyst were the last ones out, having run to gather the poofed Gems. Stevonnie shut the door after herself and grabbed Padparadscha's arm. They made their way to the front of the group, which Lars was leading towards the hangar.

They didn't meet any guards on the way there, but Lars stopped them to look inside the hangar. "There are a few Gems in there. Not many, so we should be able to take them."

Amethyst looked past him and a grin spread on her face. "Don't worry, Donut Boy, I got this handled. Don't look. And don't come in, no matter how much I scream." Laughing, she summoned her whip and charged into the room.

"We are the Crystal Gems and we're stealing one of your ships and taking it back to Earth!" Amethyst yelled as she tackled one of the guards, a short Carnelian. Two of the other guards threw her off the red Gem and brandished their weapons- then they recognized who she was.

"Hey! It's 8XM!" one of the Amethysts yelled.

"8XG! 8XL! 8XJ! Skinny! Carnelian!"

Carnelian pulled Amethyst into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, busting some friends out of prison, pissing off a Diamond. All in a day's work. What are  _you_ doing here?"

"Blue Diamond was expecting some new additions to the human zoo," 8XL said. "She sent us here to collect. Holly Blue doesn't trust us anymore, but she couldn't object without telling Blue D  _why_." They all laughed.

"She's a riot, that Holly Blue. Pearl must have got her really good. Speaking of which..." She turned to the door. "I've got the situation under control, guys! You can come in!"

Stevonnie was the first through the door after Lars, and their eyes lit up when they saw the Gems. "The Famethyst!" Then they looked confused. "The who? The Famethyst! We met them when we were rescuing Dad from the human zoo! We being me and the Crystal Gems, not me and you... Why are we still fused? I don't know, do you not want to be?" Stevonnie clutched their head.

"You okay, Stevonnie?" Amethyst asked.

They looked up. "Yeah, we're fine. I mean, I'm fine. I mean... Let's just unfuse, okay?" Steven and Connie unfused, both of them blushing.

"Hey, it's that little Gem human!" 8XL said. "That's some cool fusion, and with a human! Speaking of fusions, where's your-"

"Shh!" Amethyst ordered. 8XL fell silent. "Don't mention Garnet." Ruby was towards the back of the group and was looking at Sapphire's bubbled gem in shock. In a louder voice, Amethyst said, "Actually we really need to borrow a ship from here so we can get back to Earth. Crystal Gems and all, Homeworld obviously isn't safe for us."

8XJ punched herself in the face. "Oh! We've been outnumbered! They're overpowering us!"

8XG pretended to choke herself. "It hurts so bad! Make it stop! We can't fight back!"

8XL fell dramatically to the floor. "Must- stop- Crystal-Gems..." Her head lolled to the side.

Carnelian was laughing. Skinny rolled her eyes. "You can 'borrow' the ship we came in. You shouldn't have any problems with the light distortion settings, and there are no trackers on it. As long as you know how to put in coordinates, it'll take you right back to Earth." She pat the ship closest to her, and it opened.

Team Earth all filed into the Roaming Eye. Amethyst made sure that Ruby got on, but the poor Gem was starting to drag her feet, and she wouldn't take her eyes off the bubble. Life was going to be a lot different for them all now. But she would have to think about that later. She turned to the Famethyst. "Hey guys, there's plenty of room left in here if you want to come along. We could always use more Crystal Gems."  _And I could always use my family._

They looked at each other. "Tempting offer 8XM," 8XG said, "but we'll have to pass."

"If we run away, Blue Diamond and Holly Blue will know something's up," Skinny said. "Everyone will get punished just so that we can be free. You're not tied down like we are. You were born a Crystal Gem."

"Yeah, you're already a traitor to the Diamonds," Carnelian said. "Go be a traitor for us all! Famethyst for life!"

"Famethyst for life," Amethyst replied sadly. "Seriously, thanks a million. And tell the others thanks for keeping the coast clear for us back there. You guys are the best things-"

There was a loud yell of "ROSE QUARTZ!" from somewhere closeby. "Go!" Skinny said.

Amethyst looked behind her. Pearl must have reformed while Amethyst was talking to the Famethyst, because she was now at the controls. The door was slowly beginning to close as the ship rose into the air.

"I'll come back for you guys somehow! I promise!" Amethyst yelled right before her view of the Famethyst was cut off. She hoped that this was a promise she could keep.

 

Ruby was numb. She felt nothing as she stared unseeing at the blue gemstone inside her red bubble. She felt no elation that they were escaping and no fear that they could still be caught and no sadness at what had just happened to her Sapphire- and yet, there were the tears, running down her face.

For a few minutes after they had escaped into space and activated the light distortion, all was silent. Then Steven said, "So that's how the Gems were corrupted on Earth. That song was enough to drive anyone crazy." His voice sounded far away.

"Yes," Pearl said. "It was only because of your mother's shield that any of the Crystal Gems were able to survive. Steven, we were all exposed to that song for longer than what's good for us. We should all have a round of your healing, just to be safe."

"Okay." Steven began rubbing his spit into everyone's gem, except for the humans whose ears he healed.

Steven approached Ruby. "Can I see your gem?" he asked.

She gave him her hand, and he rubbed his wet hand on it. Instantly, a creeping feeling she hadn't even noticed under her skin disappeared. "Can you do that for Sapphire too?"

"I can try-"

"Why don't we wait until we get back to the Temple, Ruby? Sapphire in this form is too large and unstable for this ship. It isn't safe."

"The longer we wait, the worse the corruption will get!" Ruby screamed, jumping to her feet. It was as if a dam had broken in her mind, and suddenly she felt all the built-up emotions flood her, take control of her. A fire burst to life at her feet. "Since when do you tell me what to do, Pearl? You look up to me! What, just because Sapphire isn't here means you're suddenly better than me? Just because  _Garnet_ isn't here means that you can boss me around? Well guess what, I'm half of Garnet!"

"No, Ruby-"

"Don't 'no Ruby' me! You know what, I think you've always just been jealous! You said it yourself, you like being Sardonyx because you want to be a part of what Sapphire and I have! You just wish that you and Rose were as inseparable as me and Sapphire! But no, you lost her! She didn't love you back! And now that I don't have Sapphire anymore you're happy!"

"Happy?!"

"Yes! You're happy that we can no longer be together! You're happy that you and me are now on the same level! You're happy that we both have nobody now!" Her voice cracked. "You're happy that Garnet- that Garnet will never exist again!" She burst into tears and had to sit down, hugging Sapphire's bubble.

Everyone was staring at the two Gems, but Ruby didn't care. She was sure that was how Pearl felt. That's how  _she_ would feel if she was Pearl. She hadn't yet spent a day without Sapphire and she was already jealous of Rhodonite and Fluorite, who had both refused after all their Gems had reformed.

Steven sat down next to Ruby. "I'm really sorry about what happened. I'm going to do the best that I can to heal Sapphire once we get home. I won't stop trying until she's back to normal. I promise." He hugged her. Ruby leaned into him and cried into his shoulder. She really hoped that his was a promise he could keep.

 

"Everyone hold on to something, we're heading into Earth's atmosphere." Pearl had turned off the light distortion a few minutes before. Lars claimed a seat for himself and buckled the seatbelt. Most of the Gems grabbed onto the walls. Ruby seemed to think that her bubbled Sapphire counted as something stable to hold onto.

Lars didn't know the Crystal Gems well enough to understand everything that Pearl and Ruby had been arguing about, but he knew that it would probably take awhile to be resolved. But they were lucky; they had Steven. Steven had a special knack for making people see sense. After all those years, he had even converted Lars. Sure, it had taken quite literally reviving him from the dead and leaving him to fend for himself on the Gems' home planet, but he had done it.

Now, Lars wasn't sure whether or not he could go back to his old life. In the past, he would have been worried about what people would think about his newfound pinkness, but now that was the least of his concerns. He finally  _understood_. He understood how terrible of a person he had been all his life, trying to be liked by society. How stupidly convoluted was that? He had done nothing all his life but push away everyone he cared about and who cared about him: his parents, the cool kids, Sadie... How was he ever going to face Sadie? How could she ever like him again after how cowardly he had acted back on that ship as they were being abducted?

"Hey, Lars." It was Steven. Lars hadn't even realized that they had landed. The door was open and most of the Gems were out already. Lars unbuckled and stood shakily. "Lars, everything is going to be fine."

"Thanks, Steven."

Lars stepped out of the ship and looked around. He had been hiding underground for weeks, and even the light of the sunset was blinding. There on the shore, in addition to the Gems and humans who had just come from Homeworld, were a blue Gem and a Peridot that he had never seen before as well as Steven's dad and-

He was tackled in a hug by Sadie. "Lars I was so worried. You were gone for so long and Steven and the Gems have told me so much horrible stuff about Homeworld. I thought I would never see you again! I'm so sorry we couldn't rescue you before now, everything's been so crazy here."

"It's me who needs to apologize. I've been nothing but a jerk and a coward my entire life. I don't know how you could even want to look for me. I'm worth nothing."

"Don't say that, Lars." Sadie let go of him and wiped a tear from her eye. "You've always had a great heart. I always saw the good in you. So did Steven. Now you've just grown into it." She smiled. "And look at that, you're pink to show it."

Lars laughed, and Sadie looked past him. "Wait, where's Garnet?"

Lars felt his spirits drop. He saw Ruby running up the stairs to Steven's house, still holding Sapphire's bubble. He pointed to her.

"Oh no, what happened?"

"It's a long story, and not a happy one. Why don't I tell you over a walk on the boardwalk?"

"Sounds like a plan."


	3. Through New Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I was gonna apologize again for taking so long to update but then I realized... This is just gonna keep happening, an endless cycle of apology, multi-week wait, apology, multi-week wait... So I'll just not XD. Anyway, with a new episode bound to happen any week now, I just thought I'd say now that I plan on using only what was canon when Lars's Head was released to write this. I will stick only to what I had already planned out for this fic without incorporating any newly canonical events, concepts, or other information. Just my own theories and headcanons! Maybe that goes without saying, but I thought I would say it anyway.
> 
> Also, I realized a couple of interesting things recently: first, that the Steven of Gem Glow died in the episode Steven and the Stevens, so the Steven we know now is a completely different person... and second, Garnet has never seen Homeworld. Ruby and Sapphire have, but not Garnet herself.

“That sounds horrible. I can’t believe that happened to Sapphire. Poor Ruby. Without Garnet, what are the Gems going to do? She was their leader, you know.” 

Lars had just finished describing the events of the past day to Sadie. They had been walking the boardwalk all night, and now the sun was starting to rise in the east. 

“No, I don’t really know much about the Crystal Gems. I learned a lot about Gems in general when I was on Homeworld, but not about the Crystal Gems themselves. I always assumed that Pearl was their leader. She seems so… bossy.”

Sadie laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. For awhile I thought so too. But then I realized that I was wrong. Since Garnet’s part Sapphire, she has - had - heightened perception. And because she was two Gems she was wiser because she could draw from two different pasts. Of course, she wasn’t always the leader. Steven’s mom, Rose Quartz, used to be the leader of the Crystal Gems. She started the whole rebellion.”

Lars just stared at her for a second. “How do you know this much about the Gems?”

Sadie blushed. “After I heard you were taken, I started hanging around the Gems a lot, trying to figure out how to get you back. I even started sleeping in this cave on the side of the cliff so I could be closer to them in case anything happened. Steven found out after awhile and let me sleep on his couch. Anyway I’ve been learning a lot about the Gems. Pearl even started teaching me about all the different types of Gems on Homeworld, and Steven and Amethyst joined in on the classes because they didn’t know much either. But Garnet… she was the best. Whenever I had a question she would answer it, no matter how dumb I felt asking. She was so patient with me. I just can’t believe…” Lars saw her wipe at her eye.

“It’s okay, Sadie. I’m sure that the Gems will be able to figure something out. Considering that Beach City hasn’t been destroyed yet, I’m sure that they’re pretty good at solving problems.”

“Yeah. Remember that giant green hand? And that red eyeball?”

Lars nodded. “They took care of that. What’s some monster compared to those?”

Both of them fell silent. The sky was getting lighter, the sun illuminating the tops of buildings. Lars looked out over the sea. The first seagulls had taken flight, the waves rippled across the sand. The air smelled like salt, unlike the dusty, stifling air he had breathed underground for all those weeks. How had he never seen the beauty of the sea, the beach, the sunrise? How had he never appreciated the sounds of the boardwalk, the smells of Funland, the lights constantly flashing? How had he never realized how lucky he was to have have someone like Sadie in his life, someone who always believed in him no matter how much of a jerk he was?

Sadie reached over and took his hand, and he stiffened. She let go. “I’m sorry Lars I didn’t mean-”

“No, it’s okay. It’s just- All these years I’ve been such a jerk to you. I’ve used you and hurt you and disappointed you. I just want to start over.”

“I understand,” Sadie said. “So… how were you guys captured? You and the Off Colors?”

“It's not that interesting of a story. You probably know most of it already, depending on what Steven’s told you from when he’s visited. After he left me and the Off Colors to go back to Earth, we knew we needed to move out of our kindergarten. The Off Colors knew of another one, but it was pretty far away-”

“Wait, why would you want to live in a kindergarten? I’ve been to the place Amethyst was made and it’s creepy.”

“Well, it’s better for the Off Colors than living on the surface where robonoids or angry Homeworld Gems could find them and shatter them. Anyway, for the past few weeks we’ve been traveling through the tunnels and whatever. Two days ago we made it to the kindergarten, but there were a bunch of soldiers waiting for us. They poofed the Off Colors and captured me. They knocked me out so I didn't know where they brought me, but when I woke up I was in a cell.

“The Star Sapphire I told you about said something about us being used as bait, so it must have been her who predicted we were going to the kindergarten and set up the ambush.”

“And you said that Yellow Diamond wanted something with our Sapphire?”

“Yeah, Star said she ‘couldn’t predict everything’ or something like that so they needed our Sapphire.”

“Hm. I don’t know why Yellow would go through all that trouble just to get to one Sapphire.”

“Well apparently she also wanted to put us humans in some kind of zoo…”

“She was gonna throw you in the Zoo?! The Gems told me all about that place. Apparently Greg got abducted by Blue Diamond and they all had to go there to rescue him… And both Blue and Yellow Diamond were there! They didn’t even dare fight them that time, I can’t believe how brave you guys were to go up against Yellow.”

“Yeah, and we barely made it out alive. If it wasn’t for Stevonnie…”

“I can’t believe Steven and Connie can fuse. They’ve talked about Stevonnie and I know they train as them with Pearl, but a Gem and a human? It should be impossible. What do they look like?”

Lars grinned. “Remember that girl we gave those donuts to for free that night? The one who I found drawings of in your underwear drawer?”

Sadie hit him, blushing wildly. “First of all, you had no business in my underwear drawer. Second, you have to be kidding me! That girl - or, whatever they are - was Steven and Connie?”

“I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“I’ve been obsessing over two kids in a trenchcoat???”

“We were both pretty starstruck if that makes you feel any better.” Lars snickered.

“But, Steven and Connie! It’s settled. We have to make sure they get together and have kids. Those will be beautiful children. But how will that affect Steven? If Rose had to give up her physical form to have Steven, what will happen if Steven has kids? You know what, I don’t care I need this to happen.”

“And then what, you’ll magically grow younger so you can date this child?”

“Yes. I’ll find a way.” They both started laughing.

“Speaking of parents,” Sadie said, “we should really go drop in on yours. They’ve been worried sick.”

“Oh my stars my parents! How did I forget? With everything that’s been going on, I… I don’t know what got into me.”

“Did you just say ‘oh my stars’?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Homeworld thing.”

The two walked the streets of Beach City to Lars’s house. It had been weeks since he had walked this ground, but he could still probably navigate it blindfolded. After living here all his life, he would have been surprised if he couldn’t. 

The residents of Beach City were starting to wake up and get to their jobs. Most of them stared at Lars as they passed him. Others greeted him and asked how he had managed to get back to Earth. Apparently Steven had told them all about what had happened. Ronaldo tried to drag the two of them to his house for an exclusive interview for his blog, but Sadie told him they were on important business. The cool kids asked after him and said they liked his new color and battle scars, and Lars laughed; he found he was no longer intimidated by them at all. What Lars had never realized was how insignificant his insecurities were. These kids, they were genuinely nice people. They had never meant for Lars to be anything but their friend. All he would have to do to be with them was be himself. Not to mention, now Lars had felt what true fear was. True fear was knowing that the next breath could be your last. That one of your friends could leave you forever. He had seen the size of the cosmos. Compared to that, he and all of his fears were nothing. 

When they reached his parents’ house, Lars hesitated. “Sadie… What if my parents don't want to see me?”

“What? What are you talking about? Your parents have been worried sick! They haven’t slept in weeks!”

“But… What if they hate me? After all those years of being a jerk and failing school and disappointing  _ everyone _ , why would they even want me back on Earth?”

“Because you’re their son. Because they love you. I promise, Lars, that they will be happy to know you’re safe. You mean the world to them. If anything, they’ll be angry at me for not telling them immediately that you were back. They’re already mad enough at me for not letting them spend the night at the Temple… but that’s besides the point. Just knock on the door. It’ll be worth it.”

Lars took a deep breath and obliged. Almost immediately, it flew open, his mom and dad standing in the doorway. They definitely looked like they hadn’t slept or showered for weeks, and both were considerably thinner. His mom put her hand to her mouth. Four pairs of eyes welled up with tears. 

“Hi Mom. Dad.” Lars’s parents pulled him into the longest, tightest hug he could remember. When they broke apart, all three were grinning and crying simultaneously. 

“Lars, darling,” his mother asked, eyes dancing with playfulness, “why are you pink?”

“That’s a long story,” he replied.

 

After spending half the day with Lars’s parents, he and Sadie left to head back to the Temple. His parents seemed to understand; after what had happened to Sapphire, of course they wanted to check in on the Gems. They made their way back down the boardwalk, past the Big Donut. Lars reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys to the building.

“You kept those, after all this time?” Sadie asked.

Lars nodded. “Everything was so strange on Homeworld. This was the only connection I had back to Earth.”  _ And back to you. “ _ I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away.”

Soon they arrived at Steven’s house. They walked up the stairs, but as Lars was about to open the door, if flew open and Steven stormed out.

“Where are you going?” Sadie asked.

“To pee in the ocean. Because  _ apparently _ everyone just  _ loves  _ making Steven pee outside!” The second sentence was shouted inside of the house.

“Um… if you want you can use the bathroom in the Big Donut.” Lars handed him his keys.

Steven’s eyes lit up. “The keys to the Big Donut? This is truly an honor… Thanks Lars!” He ran off.

“Just don’t steal anything!” Sadie yelled. She and Lars walked inside the house.

“Staying locked in there won’t solve anything!” 

“The longer she goes without us trying to heal her, the more likely is is that she can’t be healed!”

“Plus, I’ve lived in there too and it isn’t a pleasant experience. There’s no way you could  _ want _ to stay in there forever.”

Four Gems, two of which Lars had never seen up close before, were gathered around the door to Steven’s bathroom. 

Ruby’s voice came from inside. “Damage from the Diamonds can’t be undone! Nothing Steven could try would reverse this! Just let me  _ grieve!” _ There was a loud  _ bang! _

Lars and Sadie shared a look. “Oh boy.”

 

Blue Diamond sat in Pink’s room in the Human Zoo, a bubbled Rose Quartz held gently between her hands. She felt at peace here, alone except for her Pearl. Despite all the bad memories brought by anything associated with Pink, her Zoo was the only place Blue was able to think anymore. Back on Homeworld in the Grand Palace, Yellow Diamond was always breathing down her neck. In her personal palace, she was constantly receiving reports and having to manage her colonies and troops. Everywhere she went she had to be paraded. She was always being watched by thousands of eyes. Always being guarded by hundreds of guards. But not here. Here she fled to be alone. In the silence of this room, she could think. 

Ever since the trial of Rose Quartz, Blue had been coming here regularly to escape. She didn’t know what to believe anymore. She was convinced it was not Rose who shattered Pink, but who could it be? All evidence pointed towards… But no. Yellow Diamond may have been ruthless towards any lesser Gem who inconvenienced her, but Pink was different. Yellow would never shatter her own kind no matter how much she disliked her. Would she?

The doors opened and Blue Diamond rose quickly to her feet.  _ Speak of the devil _ . “Yellow! I wasn’t expecting you. Have you arrived to personally deliver Rose Quartz and the new humans?”

“There will be no delivery,” Yellow said tersely. She was fuming. Her fists were clenched at her sides and Blue saw a slight twitch in her neck. Yellow Pearl was rubbing her hands together nervously and kept glancing up at her master.

“Oh?” Blue said.

“Rose Quartz and her band of rebels escaped from my prison and off of Homeworld after  _ shattering _ most of my guards and some of your Amethysts, the Star Sapphire who came to announce their arrival, and almost my Pearl as well!” The Pearl cowered as she was gestured to. 

Blue was surprised. “Did you at least get the information you wanted out of their Sapphire?”

“No. She refused to talk. So I shattered her as well.”

“You did? I suppose that’s why they shattered all those guards. I would say it’s justified, after you killed their friend. You say Rose herself got away as well?”

“Yes. Every last rebel, defect, and human.”

Blue sighed. She needed Rose Quartz, now that she knew she was innocent. Pink had used Rose Quartzes to subdue the humans in her Human Zoo when they got out of hand. The two new additions brought to the zoo awhile back had had some… trouble being assimilated into the new environment. Their presence had caused unease among all the humans, and despite the Amethysts’ efforts, they couldn’t be made happy again. Only the power of a Rose Quartz could clean up this mess, Blue was sure. “I didn’t want to have to, but I suppose that I’ll have to unbubble this Rose Quartz to take care of-”

“NO!” Yellow yelled. For a moment, Blue thought she saw panic in her eyes before she contained herself. “I mean, think about it, Blue. Rose Quartzes can’t be trusted. They were just another failed experiment of Pink’s-”

“Failed!? Rose Quartzes are incredibly powerful Gems, great soldiers and the only Gem that can properly deal with humans!”

“But they are not loyal! The most successful rebellion against the Diamond Authority was led by a Rose Quartz gem. They are failed! As was her one colony and all the Gems created on it, and don’t get me started on that disgusting vein of-”

“Enough!” Blue felt the tears coming again. “I will admit that that... Gem we do not speak of was a mistake, but as the youngest and most reckless of us all, Pink was always bound to create something she would regret. We all warned her. But you have to remember that it is because of her that any new Gems were ever created at all. She was always the Diamond of the most extraordinary Gems. She created a Gem so powerful that it was able to stand up to the likes of ourselves and lead a rebellion-”

“And shatter a Diamond? Listen to yourself talk Blue!”

“Rose Quartz did not shatter Pink.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Yellow. I am convinced that Pink Diamond was not broken by Rose Quartz or any Crystal Gem. The Zircon you shattered made a very convincing argument. It would not make sense for her to have been shattered by any Gem of low authority or with the status of a rebel. So who could it have been?”

“You heard the Ruby, it was Rose Quartz. I thought we had moved on from this nonsense.”

“Nonsense?! This is the murder of Pink Diamond we’re talking about. It is absolutely necessary that we get the full truth about what happened to her… Unless, of course, you don’t care?”

“Of course I care! I just am not obsessed with her as you are!”

Blue let the silence stretch for a moment. “You know the truth, don’t you? You know who really shattered her. Why won’t you tell me?”

“I have already told you it was Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gem rebellion!”

“It could not have been Rose Quartz, we’ve established this! Perhaps Rose was involved, perhaps she even planned the whole thing but that’s not what I want to know! I want you to tell me who drew a weapon and shattered Pink!”

Yellow Diamond was silent.

“Leave me,” Blue said. “Leave me to think.”

Yellow left. As soon as the doors shut, Blue felt the tears run down her face once more. So it really was Yellow. Blue Diamond couldn’t believe it. She knew Yellow and she knew she would never do such a thing. There had to be something she was missing, there had to be a bigger picture. Blue would get to the bottom of this. She would finally get justice for Pink. And she thought she knew exactly which Gem she had to talk to.


	4. Lessons in Healing

As soon as they had landed on Earth, Ruby had taken Sapphire’s bubble and ran with it to the door of the Temple. Garnet’s door wouldn’t open. Technically, Ruby and Sapphire each had their own rooms, but that wasn’t what Ruby wanted. She wanted Garnet’s room. She needed to go there to grieve. To put Sapphire to rest. To lock herself in until she had no tears left to cry. She had wanted Steven to try to heal Sapphire back on the ship, but now she knew it was hopeless. If he couldn’t fully heal the Centipeetle, how could he fully heal Sapphire? It was pointless trying.

She slammed her fists repeatedly against the door, pleading for it to open to Garnet’s room. Of course it still wouldn’t. Like all the other fusions’ rooms, it only existed as long as Garnet existed.

Ruby heard the sound of Pearl and Amethyst coming up the steps to the house. She panicked. She didn’t want to be seen, she didn’t want to have to talk to anyone. She didn’t want them to try to comfort her. She couldn’t run to her own room; she only ever entered it when she and Sapphire were fighting. So where to go? She looked frantically around. _There._ If Peridot could live in there, so could she. She sprinted to the bathroom and slammed the door, just as the two Gems opened the front door. Ruby turned the lock.

“Ruby?” Pearl called. Ruby didn’t answer. Hopefully they would think she was in the temple and go looking for her in there.

“Steven’s waiting outside for you,” Amethyst said. “He wants to try healing Sapphire. He’s even tearing up a little, maybe his tears can heal corrupted Gems even if his spit can't.”

Again, she didn’t answer.

“Ruby?” Pearl said. “Where is that Gem?” A pause. “Maybe she’s in the Temple.”

Ruby heard Amethyst’s door open and close, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It turned into a sob. She sank to the floor, her back to the bathroom door and Sapphire’s bubble held tenderly in her hand. Her eyes were suddenly watering, and before she knew it her body was racked with sobs. _Why hadn’t it been me? Why can I never save you?_

Ever since she first met Sapphire 5750 years ago, it had been one disappointment after the next. First, of course, after they first fused into Garnet. Sapphire took Ruby and ran from Blue Diamond so that she wouldn’t be shattered. Sapphire didn’t seem to understand that she was the important one, not Ruby. Ruby needed to save her. So what if she was shattered? As long as Sapphire was safe, she had fulfilled her duty. But no, she couldn’t even do her one job.

Then there were all those times - both before fusing again into Garnet and after - that Sapphire’s future vision had saved Ruby. From strange Earth animals, Homeworld Gems, and most of all, Ruby’s own fear. How many times would she have given up the will to go on if not for Sapphire assuring her it would all be okay? Even with her shattered future vision which did nothing but try to heal itself after Garnet came into existence - after Ruby caused it to be shattered - Sapphire was always able to assure her that it would all work out it the end.

But it didn’t. Now Garnet was separated, Sapphire was corrupted, and Ruby was alone. And it was all her fault because she couldn’t do anything to stop it! What kind of Ruby was she? She moaned, and tears dripped to the floor.

She heard the front door open, and quieted. “Amethyst? Pearl? Ruby?” It was Steven’s voice. Ruby kneaded her eye with her palm; she couldn’t let him see her like this. After the Keystone Motel incident, she and Sapphire both agreed that never again would they be anything but strong and loving for Steven. She had to pull it together before he saw her. “Guys? _Anyone?_ ” A pause. “I want to go into the Temple.” Ruby heard Rose’s room open. _So he knows how to use it now_. If Ruby wasn’t so depressed, she might have smiled.

 

Ruby jolted suddenly awake to a banging at the bathroom door. She wasn’t sure when or how she had dozed off, but she must have.

“Ruby please open the door!” Pearl said. “We know you’re in there.”

“Yeah my room told me you weren’t in the Temple so I thought I would check here because this seems to be a popular Gem hangout. I’m so good at finding people Jasper should have hired me!”

“Um yes Steven,” Pearl said. “Now Ruby! Please come out. Let Steven try to heal Sapphire.”

“Isn’t that what you wanted on the ship?” Amethyst added.

“Just go away!” Ruby yelled. “I was in the middle of a nap! Come back again in the morning!”

“But I gotta pee!” Steven said.

Pearl whispered something to Steven - probably “just go outside” - and Steven walked out the front door, grumbling. Then to Ruby, she said: “Get some rest. We’ll be back in the morning.”

 

At what Ruby guessed was the crack of dawn, Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst - plus Lapis and Peridot - were back at the door. Despite Pearl’s request, Ruby hadn’t been able to get any rest - to sleep off the pain. Gems didn’t need to sleep, so it was hard to actually do so. Especially when you were hurting as much as Ruby.

Pearl knocked softly on the door. “Ruby? Could we try healing Sapphire now?”

“Please leave me alone, Pearl,” Ruby moaned, her forehead against the door.

“Ruby…” Pearl sighed. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to heal Sapphire. But all of us do. We want to try. Even if it doesn’t work isn’t it worth trying?”

“No!” Ruby yelled, suddenly angry at her. “It isn’t worth trying! Because trying means there’s hope of succeeding and there is none! Steven can’t heal corruption, we’ve already established that!”

“Ruby, you’re being selfish,” Lapis said. “You think all of this is about you. Well it isn’t. Sapphire is important to all of us. She’s important to the team. And if you keep sitting in there and moping like a baby, there’s no way we can find a solution and we’re gonna lose both of you.”

“Yeah, so come _out!_ ” Amethyst yelled.

“Please!” Steven said. “I need to pee again!”

“For the last time! Leave. Me. _Alone!_ ”

“Fine then I’ll pee outside again!” Steven stomped loudly out the door and slammed it. The other Gems muttered amongst themselves, then dispersed.

 

As the morning carried on, Ruby’s resolve to stay locked in the bathroom weakened. She still didn’t want the Gems to try healing Sapphire for fear of the results, but she wanted to be out. She wanted the comfort of the others.

Throughout the morning, she heard the other Gems carrying out business around the house. Food was cooked and eaten, conversation about Lars, the Off Colors, and Homeworld was made, and Ruby occasionally heard the sounds of Crying Breakfast Friends and Camp Pining Hearts from the TV above her. Every once in awhile, Steven would come asking her to let him use the bathroom, and though she would still refuse, she wanted to let him in more and more.

 

“Ruby.” It was Lapis, and her voice was soft. “You might not think it, but I understand what you’re going through. I know what it’s like being a fusion, and I know how dependent you become on that feeling. It’s like… When you’re broken apart, you lose the bigger half of you. You’re empty. You want to die. You want to be whole again. I get it. But if we don’t put our best effort into healing Sapphire, you’re never going to be able to feel whole again. You’re never going to feel better. So please, _please_ just come out and let us help you.”

“You can’t understand what we had, Lapis. You may understand fusion more than anyone else here, but you still don’t understand _Garnet_.”

“Oh just let us heal her already!” Peridot yelled. “How long is this going to take?”

“I need to pee again!” Steven said. So the whole Let’s Heal Sapphire Fanclub was back at it.

“Pee outside!” Ruby screamed.

Steven let out a frustrated yell. The door opened, and Ruby heard Lars and Sadie’s voices. Then Steven yelled, “ _Apparently_ everyone just _loves_ making Steven pee outside!”

A pause. “The longer she goes without us trying to heal her, the more likely is is that she can’t be healed!” Pearl said.

“Plus, I’ve lived in there too and it isn’t a pleasant experience. There’s no way you could _want_ to stay in there forever.”

“Damage from the Diamonds can’t be undone!” Ruby yelled. “Nothing Steven could try would reverse this! Just let me _grieve!_ ” She slammed her fist against the door.

“No!” Pearl said. “I’m putting my foot down here: you’re coming out right now and you’re letting Steven try to heal Sapphire.”

“ _Excuse_ you who’s the leader of the Crystal Gems? Last time I checked, it isn’t-”

“Hey, hey, calm down guys,” Lars said. “There’s no need to fight over this. Ruby, why don’t you just let Steven heal her? Even if it doesn’t work, it’s the first step towards finding something that does work. Don’t you want Sapphire back as soon as possible?”

“There _is_ no getting Sapphire back! Why can’t you understand this? She’s corrupted and corruption can’t be healed! She’s gonna be like this forever! Of course you’re optimistic; you’ve already been reunited with your love. Please just don’t try to push hope on me where there is none.” And she was crying again.

“Ruby,” Sadie said softly. “Remember all those weeks when Lars was in space and I had no way of knowing how he was doing besides Steven’s word? I was devastated. I didn’t sleep or eat. I worried constantly that I was never going to see him again. I didn’t have any hope that I ever would. But that didn’t mean I stopped trying. I was _living_ with you Gems, planning, learning, giving my insight. I held onto every lead that could possibly get him back though there were practically none. Because if I gave up, I would never forgive myself. My point is, that for your own sake, please don’t give up. Please let them help you. Don’t make Sapphire have to live with the fact that you lost the will to go on because of her.”

Ruby was silent. She knew Sadie was right. She knew she could never live with herself if she didn’t try. She knew she was being selfish. She hadn’t even thought of what Sapphire would want. Not only would she want to be healed, she wouldn’t want Ruby to lose her spirit because of her. Stars, what was Ruby thinking? She had to try no matter how much the failing would hurt. She stood and opened the bathroom door. Pearl and Amethyst suffocated her in a hug.

 

 _Stupid Gems, stupid corruption, stupid Diamonds._ Steven was at his limit with the Gems. He understood Ruby’s grief, he really did. He felt it himself. He just didn’t understand why every time a Gem was upset, she had to disturb his biological cycles. He didn’t get why anyone had to be upset in the first place. Why did Gems have to attack Earth? Why did the Diamonds have to keep coming back? Why did Yellow Diamond have to corrupt Sapphire?

Who’s fault was all of this? His? The Diamonds’? His mom’s? He didn’t want to think about it.

After he finished locking up the Big Donut, he made his way slowly back to the house. He didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to be reminded that the strongest Gem he knew was broken and unfixable. He wanted to pretend that everything was okay, that this was all a bad dream, that he would wake up and find Garnet and hug her until all his tears dried. But no. This was reality and he knew it. If Garnet was no longer here to be strong, and if Ruby couldn’t be, then someone had to lead the Gems. He would have to step into his mother’s shoes.

Steven opened the door to find Pearl and Amethyst squeezing Ruby in a hug, Gems and humans alike with tears in their eyes. Steven felt his own eyes moisten.

“Steven!” Peridot called. The Gems separated from Ruby and she popped Sapphire’s bubble, which immediately began reforming.

“No take her outside!” Pearl screamed, too late.

Steven jumped to action, wiping tears from his eyes with one hand and licking the other, and pressed both fluids to Sapphire’s gem. Everyone held their breath. The white blob of Sapphire’s form flickered, shrank down to her normal size. And Sapphire formed.

But it wasn’t Sapphire. Her fingers were clawed, her dress was ripped, her skin was both scaled and feathered. Her eye - which was visible due to lack of hair - was reptilian. Even Centipeetle had looked more like a regular Gem than this.

Ruby gasped. “Sapphire…” she whispered.

Sapphire turned. “Ruby…” Her speech was normal, if raspy.

“You… remember?” Amethyst asked. She was hiding behind Pearl but trying not to show it.

Sapphire looked confused. “Yes, why wouldn’t I-?” She grasped her head and cried out.

“Sapphire!” Ruby grabbed onto her, and the Gems began to glow. “No!” Steven cried. He grabbed Ruby’s gem and pulled her out of the fusion. Both Gems reformed.

“What was that for?” Ruby said angrily. “If I could know what’s happening inside her head, I could help her!”

“Don’t you remember what happened when Jasper fused with a corruption? Do you want to be corrupted too?” He slathered Ruby’s gem with spit.

“Corruption?” Sapphire asked. She looked down at her hands. “No, no, no… No!” She grabbed her head again, starting to glow. She grew larger, her arms turned to wings-

Pearl sliced through the corruption with her spear, and Sapphire poofed. Pearl bubbled her.

“Well that was a disaster,” Lapis said. Peridot kicked her.

Ruby took the bubble from Pearl. “I’m uh… I’m going to go to my room now. I need to think.” And with that, she opened her door to the Temple and left them.

Steven sighed. He didn’t know when he would be seeing her again. At least he had the bathroom to himself.


	5. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I know I said I wouldn't apologize anymore but) SORRY FOR THE PARTICULARLY LONG WAIT. This chapter is shorter but I promise the next one will be long and make up for it.

Pearl didn’t think she had the strength to go on. She had lost  _ everything _ . First she betrayed her Homeworld by joining Rose’s rebellion, which seemed each day more than the last to have been a horrible decision. Then after Rose had become her new liege, she let her down too by allowing her to create Steven and cease to exist. And as if that wasn’t enough, now Garnet was gone. Garnet whose strength fueled them all. Garnet who took every problem head on and always found a solution. Garnet who she could not live without.

Pearl was weak. She knew it. Not just physically, no, Pearl had a weak will. She  _ needed _ somebody to tell her how to act. She needed orders. She was just a  _ Pearl _ . No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t function on her own.

And everyone who could lead her was now gone.

Did that make her the new leader of the Crystal Gems? The most original member of the group, the most capable of making logical, informed decisions? 

Pearl knew she wasn’t up to it.

She wanted Garnet. She wanted Rose.

She felt so alone.

  
  


Amethyst could do nothing but watch as the world she knew and the world she wanted were ripped out of her reach. She knew everything would be different now that Garnet was gone. No other Gem was in any condition to lead… Or was up to taking the role.

And of all the times the Crystal Gems could lose their boss, this was undoubtedly the worst. Every one of them could sense that the Diamonds were nearing their endgame. Why else would Aquamarine and Topaz have been sent? Why else would Yellow Diamond have wanted to speak to Sapphire? 

What was going on?

As for the world she wanted… Amethyst had never realized how close Lapis and Peridot were. How they stayed up late at night watching Camp Pining Hearts and reading Piercy fanfiction with Steven, how they seemed to be able to communicate through glances, how Peridot seemed to be the only one who could make Lapis laugh. 

It wasn’t that Amethyst was  _ jealous _ of the attention that the two were giving each other, it’s just that… when Peridot looked at Lapis, she felt… bad. She started subconsciously plotting ways to get rid of Lapis. She once had a pleasantly vivid dream in which Lapis stole the barn and flew out to space, hopefully never to be seen again. 

No, she wasn’t jealous. She just wished she was back to the good days. The days when Malachite was still together, when all the Crystal Gems were at the barn making the drill. When Peridot was giving  _ Amethyst _ the attention she was now giving to Lapis. It made her stomach hurt to see them like that.

Amethyst hadn’t dated in years, and she’d never dated a Gem (at least, not worth talking about). When could she have? Garnet was… well…  _ Garnet _ . Due to a short, failed relationship in the past, she knew she and Pearl weren’t compatible, and Rose was always more interested in human men (let’s not look into the few times she experimented with Pearl). So Amethyst was desperate. It had been almost a decade since Vidalia had met Yellowtail and let her go. It had happened with all the humans she had dated over the centuries. She  _ told _ them all to find someone else because, well, she couldn’t settle down with them as she knew humans needed. It didn’t upset her. She would have to watch them all go eventually. It was better this way.

But now, Amethyst was allowed to feel for a  _ Gem _ . It was all she ever wanted. All she ever hoped for. And she  _ did  _ feel. She felt for Peridot the same as she felt for Vidalia and all the other human women she had dated, if not more. She  _ wanted _ her, and Lapis was in her way.

So she wasn’t jealous of Lapis, no. She felt betrayed by fate. By whatever force made her come out wrong, deprived her of a permanent partner, and made her lose everyone she ever loved. It just wasn’t fair. 

She felt so alone.

  
  


Sadie wasn’t sure what was worse: Lars on Homeworld, unable to get back to her on Earth, or Lars on Earth but keeping his distance from her, as he was now. Since getting back to Earth, Lars had been completely ignoring Sadie. He had been spending more and more time with the Gems - especially the Off Colors - while canceling plans with her. Even the Cool Kids were practically knocking down his door asking him to hang out with them, but he ignored their requests too. 

It was like there was a divide between Lars and humanity now. Living on Homeworld for those months had changed him. Being forced to learn about Gems, and being forced to learn to be brave, had made him feel as if he could no longer lead a normal life with normal friends. He felt more comfortable with the Gems than he had ever felt with another human. Sadie knew this because he had told her one day when she had confronted him about his absence. 

She could understand that. Even she felt a little out of place with humans after spending all the months Lars was missing with the Crystal Gems. What she couldn’t understand was why Lars was pushing  _ her _ away. He refused to make eye contact, and after their boardwalk stroll that night Lars came back to earth, he would hardly even talk to her.

For years all she had wanted was him. Why wouldn’t he accept her?

She felt so alone.


	6. A Gallery of Meep Morps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me posting within a reasonable time period I'm so proud of myself. Also, I took some liberties with the layout of the museum so if anyone here is a museum connoisseur please don't attack me.

Steven, Lars, and Sadie were sitting on the former’s bed. Steven was bawling incessantly, Sadie was trying to comfort him, and Lars had his face in his hand, trying to hold in his laughter. They had just finished watching the latest installment of Crying Breakfast Friends; Steven had invited the two over having noted that they seemed to be drifting apart. Neither of them had heard of the show, so they agreed to watch it. 

“I don’t understand the purpose of this show,” Lars said. “How is that sad? It was just some sandwich or something.”

“We’ve been waiting to see Sandwich for so long,” Steven said between sobs. “He went away a whole  _ season _ ago to rethink his life decisions and to learn how not to be a bully, and now he’s  _ back _ . I just- I can’t right now.” He broke into tears once again, and Sadie rubbed his back comfortingly. He just felt so many emotions. He was going to explode.

Just then, Steven heard the sound of the Temple door opening. It was Ruby’s room. He jumped up and nearly fell down the stairs in his attempt to see her. To see why she was coming out. She hadn’t come out since the experiment with healing Sapphire failed, which was nearly a week ago.

Steven stopped on the warp pad, ignoring Lapis and Peridot who were staring from the kitchen table and Amethyst and Pearl, who stood from where they had been playing cards on the couch. 

Ruby’s door opened, and she stepped out. She looked older, somehow. Tired. Steven had never seen her without Sapphire just a few steps away, but she was alone now. She rubbed her eyes, then blinked as if startled to see them.

“Ruby…” Pearl said. “How are you?”

Ruby narrowed her eyes at her, but before Steven noticed he tackled her in a hug. “Ruby! I’m so happy to see you I just watched the best episode of Crying Breakfast Friends you should really come and watch it with me it’s coming on again in a couple hours!”

“No no that’s fine,” Ruby laughed tiredly. “I’ve seen what that show has to offer.” She held Steven at arm’s length. “Stars, I’ve missed you Steven.” She hugged him again. 

“Um, Ruby,” Pearl interrupted, “I’m very happy to see you out here, but might I ask  _ why  _ you’ve decided to leave your room?”

Ruby sighed, breaking away from Steven and facing the room. “I’ve finished mourning that Sapphire’s gone and that I’m no longer Garnet. I wish I could cry longer but neither of them would act like that, and if I have to fill their shoes, I need to act like a leader. The only way for us to move forward getting her back and winning this war against the Diamonds is to take action. I’m ready to do so. So, what plans have you made?”

The Gems all stared at each other. Peridot shrunk down behind the table a bit. Steven felt his face go red.  _ He _ should have been the one to step up and take the role of leader. He  _ was _ indeed Rose Quartz. But no, he had supervised as everyone took a break, tried to adjust back to normal and incorporate the new Gems into their lives. Even that hadn’t gone well; the Off Colors mainly kept to themselves in the small cave to the side of the Temple where Sadie used to sleep. 

“You’re telling me that  _ nobody _ made plans? None of you?! Nobody tried to see if there was a way to get back to Homeworld more quickly than by ship? See if Peridot’s robots were still around to fix the Galaxy Warp?  _ Nobody _ picked up a book to find ancient Gem healing methods? Maybe found a legend of a secret underground library containing the secrets of curing corruption? Nobody prepared defenses in case the Diamonds sent more Gems to kill or capture us?  _ Nobody? _ ”

“Ruby-” Steven touched her arm, but pulled away as he was burned. “Ruby please calm down. We’ve all been having a hard time too. It’s… It’s really different without you or Sapphire or Garnet around. Don’t blame them, please.”

“But how can you expect me to do work while you’re all sitting around doing nothing?!”

“Okay!” Steven said, trying to diffuse the situation. “I think what we all need right now is a day of fun and relaxation! We should celebrate seeing Ruby again, then start making plans tomorrow.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea!” Pearl chimed in. “We could all use some bonding time, right Ruby?”

Ruby crossed her arms.

“Yeah!” Peridot said. “Lazuli and I can take you up to the barn! We can look at Meep Morps and plants and watch Camp Pining Hearts!”

Lapis chuckled, but Amethyst groaned. “Great. The barn. My favorite place on earth.”

“Hey!” Steven said. “I know a place where we can look at meep morps from a lot of different time periods all together in one place! And then we can go to a huge park and look at plants! Uh… I can’t really guarantee we can watch CPH, but we can make a day of the rest of it. We can go to Empire City!”

“Isn’t that a little far?” Pearl asked.

“If we get Dad to drive us, it’ll only take a couple hours to get there. A couple hours for a day of fun!”

“Hm, alright,” Pearl agreed. “Ruby? What do you say?”

Ruby’s arms were still crossed, and she rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“It’s a yes!”

 

It didn’t take much to convince Greg to drive Steven, five Gems, and two humans into Empire City (the Off Colors didn’t want to go). He had been writing a new song inspired by his trip to the Human Zoo, called “Diamond Eyes”. He had been working on the final verse when Steven ran up to him and demanded to be driven into the city, saying it was for Ruby’s sake. Greg had been exceptionally worried about the little Gem since their latest return from space. It wasn’t easy losing someone you loved; Greg had firsthand experience with that. If he had taken years to get over Rose’s death even with Steven to love, he couldn’t imagine what Ruby was feeling now, separated from Sapphire after thousands of years with nobody to love in her place. It must have been torture.

So in short, Greg readily agreed to take them wherever they wanted to go.

Twenty minutes later, Greg, Steven, Lars, Sadie, and eight Gems (Padparadscha, Rhodonite, and the Rutile twins changed their minds at the last minute and joined them) were cramped into the van, speeding down the highway towards Empire City. Pearl sat in front with Greg, and the rest of them huddled in the back, holding onto the sides of the van for balance. Lars and Sadie, united earlier by mutual exasperation at Crying Breakfast Friends, were sitting silently at separate ends of the van, not looking at each other. Peridot sat in between Amethyst and Lapis, who were both trying to hold her attention. Rhodonite had gotten Ruby to start talking about fusion, and they were deep in conversation, while Steven, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins talked about Homeworld.

“So, where exactly are we headed?” Greg asked, interrupting all conversation.

“The MOMA!” Steven answered enthusiastically.

Amethyst groaned. “The MOMA  _ sucks _ . The art there doesn’t even make sense.”

“Art isn’t  _ supposed _ to make sense!” Peridot argued. “Sometimes it just makes you feel something.”

“Trust me,” Amethyst said, putting an arm around Peridot’s shoulder. “The MOMA sucks. Plus, it only takes like an hour to walk through it. I vote we go to the Met.”

“Oh, I love the Met!” Pearl chimed in from the front seat. “They even have a section with weapons from Ancient Greece and Rome.”

“And paintings!” Greg said. “Rose was always a fan of paintings.”

“And naked statues,” Amethyst chuckled. “I’m always a fan of that. I can show them to you, Peri.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“What do you say, Ruby? The Met?”

“Sure, why not?” she said. “It’s not like I really have a choice.”

 

Three hours later, Greg’s van pulled up in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Gems and Steven filed out onto the sidewalk and began walking up the steps to the museum entrance. Greg would catch up with them after parking.

Lapis followed at the back of the group, her arms crossed, watching Peridot and Amethyst talk animatedly to each other as if she didn’t even exist. She knew exactly what Amethyst was getting at. She knew she liked Peridot, and she knew she wouldn’t give up trying to get her. But Peridot was _Lapis’s_. Who lived with her in that barn for months? Lapis did. Who raised Pumpkin with her? Lapis did. Who stayed up nights in a row marathoning Camp Pining Hearts? Lapis did! What had Amethyst done? Sure, she built a drill and saved the planet with her, but that hardly counts as quality time. It was Lapis that made Earth home for her.

It was Peridot that made Earth home for Lapis.

After they had passed through security, the Gems split up. Pearl made a beeline for the Ancient Weaponry section, followed by Rhodonite, who was interested in learning about Earth weapons. Steven, Ruby, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins went upstairs to where most of the paintings were. Lapis saw Amethyst leading Peridot to the Greek statues. Sadie was dragging Lars towards the back of the museum, probably just to get as far away from everyone else as possible to yell at him. Even Lapis could see they were having problems that needed sorting out. As if she didn’t have enough of those of her own to worry about.

Lapis decided to wait for Greg in the lobby. 

 

Sadie had madness in her eye as she pulled Lars into a room filled with ancient Mesopotamian art. There were no humans or Gems present, and it made Lars nervous. She’d clearly chosen this room for a reason. What had he done now?

He thought about his time back on Earth. What had he done to upset her? He spent most of his time on his own, wandering through the streets at night. He felt the need to walk now that he was back on Earth. Most of his time on Homeworld was spent walking through caves and tunnels, so walking now helped to clear his mind. He needed something to distract him from how different everything was here. He didn’t expect to feel so othered by his own hometown. It didn’t feel like home anymore.

“This ends now,” Sadie said.

“What does?” Lars said, rubbing his wrist where Sadie had been holding it like a vice. 

“ _ This! _ ” Sadie waved her hands, gesturing to their entire situation. “I’m sick and tired of you avoiding me. You stay in bed all day and wander around all night and you think I don’t notice but I do. You tire yourself out so that you can’t do anything with me and you blame it on Homeworld. Not everything can be blamed on Homeworld, Lars! I get it, you’ve had adventures and bonded with the Gems and you feel at home with them. The same thing happened to me when we were looking for ways to save you! But do you see me cutting myself off from humanity? No! You can’t just wallow in your own self-pity. Life has to go on, and that starts with getting over yourself and getting back to your old routine. I’m not saying you have to pretend that the stuff on Homeworld never happened. That’s a huge part of your identity now, and you should never give it up. I’m just saying that you had a life here before Homeworld, and it’s waiting for you to reclaim it. People miss you, Lars. I miss you.”

They had had a similar conversation before this, but Sadie had obviously thought through her argument since then. Before, Sadie had only asked him why he was separating himself from everyone, she didn’t try to fight it. In all honesty, he hadn’t known that what he was doing was hurting her. “Sadie-”

“And look, Lars, I don’t even care if you don’t want to date me. We’ve had a complicated history, and this has complicated it even further, so it’s fine if this is it for us.” Her face was bright red, and Lars was sure she  _ wasn’t  _ okay with it. “But please, I just don’t want to lose you as a friend.”

Lars looked at her as her eyes welled up with tears. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too!” Lars blurted out without thinking. He took Sadie’s hands in his own. “I love you, and I’ve always loved you. I was just too scared and stupid before Homeworld to admit it. I’m really sorry for these past few weeks. I’ve been trying to find myself and I guess I thought that being alone would help me do that, but you’re right. It hasn’t. Everything is so different now and I should be trying to immerse myself in this new world instead of running from it.” He took a deep breath, readying himself to reveal the truth. “I want to be with you, Sadie. Maybe I should take more time to adjust before jumping into this, but… I can’t. I’ve spent too long away from you and I can’t live without you anymore. I want to make it work between us. I want to fix everything. Will you help me?”

A tear was working its way down Sadie’s cheek now, but she didn’t take her hand out of Lars’s to wipe it away. Instead, she raised his hand to her lips and kissed it softly, sending a shiver down his spine. Stars, how he loved her. “We can make this work,” she said. “I know we can.”

 

The fifth time Amethyst felt Peridot’s hand brush against hers, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to control herself for much longer. She longed to take her hand in her own, to kiss her fingers and wrist and knuckles… She needed to get a hold on herself. 

Hold on herself or not, Amethyst didn’t care what Lapis thought. She could sense Lapis’s growing resentment, and she could sense Peridot’s growing affection for Lapis. Amethyst knew she had to work for Peridot and win her before Lapis did, or this would all be over. Too bad Lapis couldn’t just be removed from the equation.

They stopped at another buck naked statue of a Roman warrior. Peridot was surprisingly into the art of the statues, critiquing them like she knew what she was doing. Her method of critiquing, however, involved only comparing the art to her own style.

“No, no,” she said. “This is all too literal. It’s just a portrait. There’s nothing to interpret. Where’s the fun in that?”

“It’s an appreciation of the human body,” Amethyst said. “It represents natural beauty and strength. It’s not meant to be interpreted.”

“What’s the point of a meep morp that isn’t up for interpretation?! A good meep morp should mean something different to everyone who sees it.”

“Maybe you  _ would _ like the MOMA,” Amethyst said. 

They moved into a side room containing Greek pottery. Peridot seemed to appreciate the stories carved into the sides of the pots and jars, and Amethyst enjoyed explaining the Greek myths that inspired them. There was Aphrodite being born from the sea foam, Hephaestus being cast from Mount Olympus, and Achilles being shot in the heel. 

As Peridot interpreted each of the pots and their corresponding myths, Amethyst couldn’t help but zone out. The way Peridot spoke so animatedly was distracting: the shape of her lips, the emphatic movements of her arms, the curious, intelligent glint in her eyes. She was all Amethyst wanted. She wouldn’t even have to settle to be with her. During the American Civil War, she and Pearl had had a short relationship. Amethyst ended it after realizing that neither of them were happy; both were trying to settle for the other. Pearl wanted Rose, and Amethyst wanted… someone else. It was then that she started dating human women. They were warm and caring and appreciated her like Pearl never did. They all had to leave eventually, so Amethyst knew they weren’t a long commitment. She accepted that.

After Amethyst dumped Pearl, their friendship had deteriorated. Pearl wasn’t willing to be alone, even if being with someone meant abandoning her real love. She got angry at Amethyst, associating her with her loneliness. Amethyst didn’t want that to happen ever again, and she  _ knew _ it wouldn’t be the same with Peridot.

So the sixth time Peridot’s hand brushed against her own, Amethyst took it. Peridot made no move to pull away. Who knew that holding a Gem’s hand could feel so much like holding a human’s?

 

After awhile, Pearl’s curiosity got the best of her. “So, Rhodonite, how exactly did your Pearl and Ruby meet, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Rhodonite grinned at her. “I don’t mind at all. I love talking about our story.

“It was millennia ago that Pearl and Ruby belonged to Morganite.”

“A Morganite? You were high up, then.” Morganites were wartime strategists. Often, the Diamonds trusted them to lead entire armies of Quartzes into important battles. Once, famously, five Morganites under White Diamond conquered an entire planet on their own. 

“Yes. Our Morganite belonged to Pink Diamond. We were closely involved in the colonization of Earth, and we knew all about you and Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems.”

“Exactly how much did you know about me?” Pearl asked, her stomach dropping.

“Everything,” Rhodonite responded. Pearl knew she couldn’t know  _ everything _ , but she certainly could know her previous owner. “I won’t tell the others if you don’t want me to.”

“Thank you.” Somehow Pearl knew she could trust Rhodonite, probably because she was part Pearl.

“So anyway, it was in the middle of the war on Earth that Morganite found out about me. Pearl and Ruby had been in a relationship behind her back for awhile. Pearl was inspired by you. She saw a Pearl rebelling against Homeworld and especially against… against your previous owner, and she wanted to do the same. It was exciting to her. Ruby had already caught her eye, it had just taken your example for her to get over her fear.”

“My example?” Pearl asked, incredulous. “Honestly, don’t try to flatter me. You don’t understand half the story.”

“Don’t be humble, Pearl, you have no idea what effect you had on Pearls Homeworldwide. You sparked little rebellions in all of us who heard about you. Most of us could never act on them, but we tried. Some, like myself, succeeded. Morganite found out, and we were cast out. Ruby and Pearl ran away and hid underground. They had fused before, but this time when they fused into me, they didn’t want to separate again. I found Fluorite in the those tunnels, and the rest is history.”

A pause. “Most Gems would rather be accepted within Homeworld’s society than be with someone they love, but not me. Believe it or not, I was so much happier constantly running for my life as long as I was together.” Rhodonite laughed. “But you’d understand that, wouldn’t you, Crystal Gem?”

“Of course I understand!” Pearl said. But she wasn’t quite sure anymore. Life on Earth was becoming more and more complicated compared to the simplicity of following orders on Homeworld. A part of her - small and insignificant, but a part nonetheless - almost wanted to go back.

 

“Is this about Peridot?”

Greg and Lapis were in a section of the museum that displayed Egyptian art. Greg had been making a valiant effort to get Lapis interested in it, but she was too caught up in her own problems to care. She hurt, and she wanted to make others hurt too. She knew it was wrong to feel that way, so she just made herself believe that being curt with Greg would hurt him. He was a lot more observant than she expected. She didn’t think of him to be the type that would catch on to something like this. What could he know about her relationship with Peridot? Her rivalry with Amethyst? 

She crossed her arms. “No.”

Greg studied an image of a man with a wolf’s head for a moment before saying, “If you think I don’t understand what’s going on, you’re wrong. When I started dating Rose, Pearl hated me. Actually, I don’t think she started to like me until… well, I guess until we sang it all out.”

Sang it out? “I’m not like you and the Crystal Gems. I can’t just sing about my problems and they’ll magically disappear.”

“I’m just saying, I know what you’re going through. Love triangles are never easy to wrap up in a neat package. Just ask Katniss.”

“Katniss?”

Greg blushed and tugged at his collar. “Sorry- just a book…” He coughed. “Anyway… uh, what was I saying?”

“Love triangles.”

“Oh! Yeah. I know how you feel. There was a time when I wasn’t sure whether Rose liked me or Pearl more, and it was scary. I loved her, and I gave up my career to be with her. Loving someone can consume your life, and if someone else takes that love away from you, it’s devastating. It tears you apart.”

“You’re not making this any better,” Lapis deadpanned.

“My point is that if you ever need help or advice or just want to talk, I’m the person to come to.”

“Thanks a lot.” She rolled her eyes subtly, skeptical of his ability to help but not wanting to be rude after his efforts.

“And Lapis, if Amethyst wins, don’t take it out on her. She’s going through the same thing you are now. She’s not doing this to spite you or hurt you. This isn’t about you for her. It’s about Peridot. Just try not to blame her, okay?”

 

Everywhere Ruby looked, she saw Sapphire. The woman with the long hair examining a painting of a girl on a swing? Sapphire. The little girl eating a lollipop which probably wasn’t allowed in the museum? Sapphire. The lesbian couple debating the meaning of the color of the sky in a painting of the countryside? Herself and Sapphire. That woman’s smile, that one’s laugh, that one’s posture. Sapphire, Sapphire, Sapphire.

If she saw her anywhere else, she might shatter.

Steven, Padparadscha, and the Rutile twins were nearby, looking at the paintings. But she couldn’t focus on them. She could tell Steven was worried about her from the way he kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, but she didn’t have the strength to make herself look okay. She wasn’t okay. She was breaking apart. She was losing herself.

She had thought that talking about fusion with Rhodonite earlier would help her cope, but it hadn’t. Well, in the moment it had felt nice, but now she felt more deprived than ever. She had just reminded herself of what she had lost. Her better half, never to be reclaimed.

Never.

Oh, stars. She would never see Sapphire again. She would never hear her laugh or gaze into her crystal-blue eye. She would be forever haunted by her ghost, found everywhere from memories within Ruby’s own head to random humans in an art museum.

“Ruby, are you okay?” It was Steven. Ruby hadn’t realized that she had sunk to her knees. She tried to get up, but collapsed into Steven’s arms.

“I need to get back to the Temple,” she said. She couldn’t get enough air. Gems didn’t even  _ need  _ to breathe. “This isn’t working Steven I’m sorry. I need to go home now.”

“Alright,” Steven said. “Just sit here and I’ll go get everyone and we can leave. Okay?”

“Alright,” Ruby said. She sat on a bench and tried to slow her breathing. She wondered if this was her fate: to be the pitied Crystal Gem. She knew she was pitied, and she hated it. A tear rolled down her cheek.

 

The moment Greg’s car rolled up at the base of the Temple, Ruby made a beeline for her room. Lars had offered to let her go through his head to the Temple, but she had declined. She was trying to appear as held-together as possible.

She didn’t know how long it would be before she left her room again. She didn’t care. All she knew was that next time they saw her, she would have a plan. So, with Sapphire’s bubble floating next to her, bobbing softly up and down like a balloon in a gentle breeze, she got to work.


	7. Fusionology

Ruby didn’t know how long she had been in her room. It could have been days or months, she couldn't tell the difference. Time had lost all meaning to her as she remained in deep meditation, trying to come up with a plan to save Sapphire, her friends, and the Earth. It was difficult to think through her grief, but it was becoming just slightly easier to control it. 

Before having gone into space to save Lars and the Off Colors, Garnet had had a clouded vision of the future. There was of course the path in which Garnet had not been separated; this one had been clearest. However, she had seen snippets of futures in which the unthinkable had happened. Ruby remembered one unifying thread throughout all of them…

The thought was terrifying, but upon reflection it might have been Ruby’s only hope. A plan began to develop in her mind. It was unlikely to succeed, but with the Off Colors, Lars, and Sadie for additional manpower, it might have been just possible. And not only did it provide hope for Sapphire’s recovery, it might give them leverage in the war. After more deliberation, Ruby knew she had reached the only conclusion that could possibly accomplish all that needed to be accomplished. It was time to tell the others.

Ruby’s door opened, and she stepped out onto the warp pad. “Guys I have a-” She stopped in her tracks. A tall figure was standing in the living room, and Ruby’s vision tunneled around her. The figure turned around, and her eyes went wide. Ruby’s heart stopped. It was Garnet.

She blacked out.

 

“I think you broke her,” Rhodonite’s voice said from far away. 

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Steven said.

“Well how was  _ I  _ supposed to know she would come out  _ right then? _ ” Peridot protested.

Ruby groaned. 

“She’s waking up,” Sapphire said. The voice sent a jolt down Ruby’s spine, and she sat upright. 

“Oh,” Ruby said. It wasn’t her Sapphire, of course. It was Fluorite’s purple one. This was giving her a headache. “I could have sworn, just now, that I saw…”

“Ruby’s waking up,” Padparadscha said.

“Uh, yeah, about that…” Peridot trailed off.

“Peridot has found a new hobby,” Lapis said. “Over the past month she’s started studying, what did you call it?”

“Fusionology!” Peridot said. “The study of fusion. What you just… witnessed… was an experiment to test my hypothesis that any two Gems of the same type will always form the same fusion. Clearly, the results prove me right.” Peridot, suddenly uninterested in Ruby, moved to a chalkboard and began writing.

“Ruby, I’m really sorry you saw that,” Rhodonite told her. “We all told Peridot not to - my Ruby protested especially - but we had already signed an agreement as her test subjects that we would all fuse however she needed us to to advance science. We all thought it would be fun! And it is, but Peridot can get carried away sometimes.”

“It’s okay,” Ruby said. “Seeing Garnet was just a shock. I’m okay now.”

Ruby stood from where she had been placed on the couch and walked over to Peridot’s board. She was interested to see what Peridot had discovered, tyranny or otherwise. On the left half of the front of the board, she had drawn pictures of all of her test subjects. It looked like all the Gems in Fluorite and Rhodonite, plus Amethyst, the Rutile twins, and for some reason Greg and Lars, had agreed. She had drawn lines between each Gem and all the others, words like “friend,” “acquaintance,” and “permafusion” written above each line. On the other half of the board, separated from the chart by a vertical line, seemed to be a list of proven hypotheses. 

_ Gems and humans CANNOT fuse! (No, not even magical pink humans.) _

_ Fusion stability RELIES on relationship between components! _

_!!!Fusion DILUTES future vision!!! _

_ Fusion’s appearance remains the same UNTIL one or more components poof! _

 

And the newest:

_ Gems of the same kind ALWAYS form the same fusion! _

“Impressive,” Ruby said. And it was. Ruby had never made a scientific study of fusion, and though she did think it was a bit insensitive, this fusionology was still intriguing. She had figured that fusion diluted future vision, since Garnet had always had a more difficult time divining the future than Sapphire alone, but she hadn’t been sure of it.

“It is impressive,” Peridot said. “It would be more impressive if I had more test subjects. Lazuli won’t humor me, Steven won’t humor me… Imagine having Steven as a test subject!”

“You won’t even be your own test subject,” Lapis said.

“We already have a Peridot, I’m not needed. But a Lapis Lazuli and a Rose Quartz/human hybrid? Jackpot! Honestly, any more Gems would be nice. Ruby, want to become a test subject?”

Ruby’s stomach dropped. “No thanks,” she said. “I’m gonna take a break from fusion for the time being.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Peridot said. “That’s probably a good idea. Sorry.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Ruby,” Steven said. “What brings you out here today?”

“I’ve come up with a potential plan to save Sapphire and advance in the war on Homeworld. It would be best if Pearl, Greg, Lars, and Sadie were here to hear it. Steven, is Connie around?”

“She could get here in twenty minutes,” Steven said, pulling out his phone.

“Great. Gather everyone and we’ll meet on the beach in thirty.”

 

Thirty minutes later, the Crystal Gems, Off Colors (all fused into their usual forms), and humans (and Pumpkin) were sitting in a semicircle on the beach. Ruby stood before them, preparing to break the news. It would not make them happy, she knew. It didn’t make  _ her  _ happy either, but if she took the situation and spun it the right way, it might be used to benefit them.

“I have some bad news, but I don’t want anyone to freak out when I tell you,” she began. “When I was Garnet, the future was very unclear, but one thing was for certain: sometime in the near future, Blue Diamond will be returning to Earth.” Several pairs of eyes went wide, but thankfully nobody said anything. “I know, this is terrifying at face value, but I think that we can spin it in our favor. So we know that the Diamonds are the cause of corruption, but we don’t know how to reverse it. I think it’s logical to assume that the Diamonds themselves are the key. If we make preparations and ambush Blue Diamond, we just might be able to capture her and have her uncorrupt Sapphire.”

“Even if we can overpower her somehow, won’t she still just corrupt you all?” Lars asked.

“That’s where Steven comes in. Steven, when the time comes, you’re not going to fight with us. Instead, you’re going to stay on Lion so that if it looks like she’s about to do the corruption song, you can move quickly and intercept it with your shield.

“Once we’ve captured Blue Diamond and she’s uncorrupted Sapphire, we’ll poof and bubble her to use as ransom in the war. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll ransom her  _ for _ , but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. Until Blue Diamond comes, we’re going to continue gathering Gem monsters so that we can have her uncorrupt some more Crystal Gems and get an army together. We’re also going to plan out our attack strategies. Lars, Sadie- I can’t make either of you help, but if you want to fight with us, Pearl will teach you both sword fighting.”

“Of course we’ll help!” Sadie said. “We haven't spent our whole summer around you Gems for nothing. We want to help save humanity!” Ruby could practically see the stars in her eyes.

“That’s awesome. Connie?” She had been raising her hand.

“You know I want to help, Ruby, but it’s the end of summer now. School’s about to start. With that and violin and tennis and everything else, I just don’t know if I’ll be able to train, and there’s no guarantee that I’ll even be in town when Blue Diamond comes.”

“That’s alright, Connie. It’d be nice if you could be around all the time, but I get that you can’t. I guess just come around whenever you can. Even if you can’t be here when Blue comes, you can still help us strategize, and you can still go on missions to bring some corrupted Crystal Gems home.

“For the time being, we’ll break up into teams. Pearl, Steven, Connie, Lars, and Sadie will all have sword lessons at the Sky Arena. Hm…” She surveyed the group. “Rhodonite and… herself. Fluorite and Rutile. Peridot and Lapis. No. The whole Holy Trinity is going together.” They clearly had some things they had to work out, and while Ruby wasn’t one to play matchmaker, it was better that Amethyst, Peridot, and Lapis deal with their problems while fighting Gem monsters than while fighting Blue Diamond. At least this wasn’t as bad as when Amethyst and Pearl were having issues. That was something she didn’t care to remember. “I’ll go alone. Padparadscha will stay here and hold down the fort.” Ruby wasn’t going to let any more Sapphires get hurt.

“What about me?” Greg asked.

“You? Oh. I didn’t know you wanted to help, you usually stay out of Gem business.”

“Well you’re the one who wanted me to come over here.”

“I just wanted you to know what we’re facing. Steven’s your son, and you deserve to know what’s going on in his life.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but I do want to help out. I may not be as young and fit as I used to be, but if other humans are getting involved in the Gem war, so am I.”

“Oh! Uh, thanks!” Ruby said. “Pearl, would you mind taking another student?”

“I won’t be teaching them alone,” Pearl said. “I have my star pupil here to help!” She ruffled Connie’s hair, and Connie giggled.

“So it’s settled, then. You will all be training to fight, and everyone else will go out searching for Gem monsters.”

“What about you?” Sadie asked. “Are you going alone?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said. “I need some alone time right now. Anyway, we don’t have future vision to guide us, so we’ll just have to search blindly for the monsters.”

“Fluorite has a Sapphire,” Lars said.

“If you would pay attention to my scholarly research,” Peridot said, “as more Gems are added to a fusion, each Gem’s power, or at least future vision, is diluted.”

“Yes,” Fluorite said slowly. “My Sapphire’s power is so diluted that I don’t have any future vision at all.”

Ruby concluded, “And as someone who understands a bit about being a fusion, I can’t ask Fluorite to unfuse every time we want to go on a mission. It isn’t fair to her or any of her Gems.”

“Even if it affects the productivity of the team?” Lars asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Ruby said darkly, her fists clenched. “There are other ways around it. For example,  _ you _ could follow my orders.”

“Ruby, Ruby, let’s not be too harsh on him,” Pearl said. “He doesn’t understand fusion. He didn’t mean any offense.”

Ruby sighed. “I know. I’m sorry, Lars. Let’s all just get the day started. Fluorite and Rutile will go to the Prime Kindergarten. Rhodonite, head to the Communication Hub. I’m going to the Gem Battlefield. Lapis, Amethyst, and Peridot, go to the shipwreck.”

Peridot laughed. “That place where I trapped you and tried to shoot you with lazers?”

“The very one,” Ruby said.

“Waaaaait!” Steven yelled. “You’re not going to poof the Centipeetles, are you?”

“No,” Ruby said. “Leave the Centipeetles be. They’re happy and contained, so when we figure out how to reverse corruption, we can get them just as easily. 

“The mission is simple. We’re all going to search our respective Gem sites and the surrounding areas for Gem monsters. When we find one, poof and bubble it, then keep looking. Monsters tend to stay around the same general areas as each other, so the odds of finding multiple are reasonably high. On the weekends, we’ll talk battle plans and group formations and whatever, but this is the plan for today. Got it?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Amethyst said. “Let’s roll on out.”

 

Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot warped to the Gem shipwreck. “This reminds me of the good days, back when I was trying to kill you all and you were trying to capture me… Remember that?”

“Yeah, and Garnet and Pearl wouldn’t talk to each other. Those times were great.” Amethyst rolled her eyes. 

The three of them circled the ships in search of corruptions. “This is pointless,” Peridot said after awhile. “The probability of finding a Gem monster is incredibly low. I could be at home now testing whether a fusion and a single Gem makes the same fusion as the three Gems separately…”

“It does,” Amethyst said. “Opal and Garnet fusing makes Alexandrite just as if me, Pearl, and Garnet fuse.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” Peridot said.

“Why are you so obsessed with fusion, Peridot?” Lapis said. “You won’t even fuse yourself.”

“Leave her be, Lapis. Fusion is a choice. If she doesn’t want to fuse, that’s her decision. That’s why she  _ asked  _ everyone first if they would help with her experiments and why she isn’t upset at  _ you _ for saying no.”

“Trust me, Amethyst. I know all about fusion being a choice.”

Peridot looked between them. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but can’t you just get off each other’s backs? We’re supposed to be finding a Gem monster, not arguing.”

They were both silent for a moment. Then Amethyst said: “Hey, Peridot, you know what’s fusion food for thought?”

“What?”

“Malachite.”

“Lazuli and Jasper’s fusion?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “If all Gems of the same kind fused together make the same fusion, Malachite couldn’t have looked like such a monster because she was specifically this Lapis Lazuli and this Jasper who weren’t compatible personality-wise. So why was she so big and not humanoid?”

“Can we maybe not talk about Malachite like I’m not right-”

She was cut off my Amethyst’s scream. Black tentacles had wrapped around her without her noticing, and she was yanked off her feet.

“Amethyst!” she heard Peridot scream.

As she was dragged into the forest, Amethyst got a better look at her kidnapper. It was the Slinker! Well, no, it couldn’t be  _ the _ Slinker, that was still somewhere in her room, but it was the same kind of Gem. “Oh no not again,” she said. Her right arm was free, and she drew a whip. 

By the time she was dragged into a clearing, she had muzzled the corruption and was trying to squeeze it until it poofed, which was difficult with only one arm. 

“Take…  _ that!” _ Her saviors had come from above. Lapis was soaring overhead, holding Peridot by the armpits. Peridot must have ripped the siding off one of the ships, because she was now hurling it at the Slinker. The Slinker was impaled by three shards of metal; it didn't poof, but instead roared, snapping the whip, and tightened its grip on Amethyst. 

Kamikaze Peridot swooped down for a second shot. She threw her last shard of metal. Midair, it morphed into a jagged disc which sliced through the tentacle that was holding Amethyst. She was free.

The Slinker slinked off into the trees again, and Lapis and Peridot landed next to Amethyst. They high fived. “I think we make make a pretty good team, Lazuli.”

“We should probably follow that thing,” Lapis said. “We can’t leave it out here.”

“Hey Lapis?” Amethyst said. “Thanks for coming for me.”

“Whatever,” she said. The three of them followed its trail into the trees.

“We should be careful,” Amethyst said. “I know Slinkers, and it’ll come back to attack again. It’ll hide where you can’t see it and then take you.”

“Slink-?” Lapis was cut off as she was dragged into the trees.

“Not again!” Peridot exclaimed.

The two shared a look and ran after the Slinker. It was out of sight immediately, but they followed its trail back towards the ship. When they cleared the trees, they saw it and Lapis forty feet in the air. Her wings were free and she was trying to shake it, but it was squeezing her and pulling her down. 

“Peridot! Control the metal! Call it to you and rip the Slinker apart!” Amethyst said.

“I can’t control it from that far away! I can hardly control it when I’m touching it!”

“Well if you don’t do something, it’s gonna poof Lapis and take her gem away and we’ll never get her back! I saw what you did with that other piece of metal back there! You completely changed its shape! Come on, I believe in you!”

Peridot raised her arms and scrunched her eyes shut in concentration. “It’s not doing anything. I’d have to be so much stronger- why am I so weak?”

“Peridot this is no time for this! Lapis is about to die!”

“Wait! I have to be stronger! Amethyst- you can make me stronger.”

“Do you mean..? No, I can’t take that from you.”

“If it means saving Lapis, I can do it.”

“Alright.” 

Peridot took Amethyst’s hand hesitantly. Amethyst led Peridot in the dance, both their gems starting to glow. She tried not to focus on the sounds from above them, Lapis’s yells and the Slinker’s roars. She dipped Peridot, watching her dissolve into light.

 

“What the…” She looked down at her two arms. They were green with purple splotches. Hair covered one eye. What an inconvenience.

Who was she?  _ Where _ was she? She was supposed to be doing something, but what?

There was a scream above her. “Lapis!” she said, looking up. Lapis was looking down at her, eyes wide. Then the monster ate her.

“Oh no you don’t!” she yelled. She reached out with her arms and her senses; she could feel the metal impaling the Gem monster which was now falling to the ground without Lapis to hold it up in the air. She made a grabbing gesture, and the metal shards were pulled through its body toward her. The Slinker poofed.

Lapis hit the ground. The new fusion ran up to her after bubbling the Slinker and sending it to the Temple.

“Lapis, are you okay?” she asked.

“You two fused?”

She grinned. “Yeah! We fused! I need to go show everyone! I need to go write down my findings!” She picked up Lapis bridal style and walked to the warp pad. Comparing their sizes, she could tell she was about the same size as Rose Quartz.

“Shouldn’t you two unfuse? You’ve finished saving me.”

“Not until I show everyone! I’m so proud of me. This isn’t half as scary as I expected. Everyone’s going to be so impressed.”

“You know what, just leave me here. I’m going to head to the barn and call it a day.”

“What? Why? Aren’t you proud, Lazuli?” She put Lapis down.

“Of course I’m proud, Peridot- or,  _ whatever _ your name is-”

“Atlantisite.” She didn’t know how she knew, but she did.

“Atlantisite. You wouldn’t understand. Ask Amethyst, I’m sure she gets it.” Lapis rolled her eyes.

Atlantisite stared at her for a moment. “Well, suit yourself. I’ve got Gems to brag to.” She warped away.

The house materialized around her, and with it Ruby, Padparadscha, and the Sky Arena group. When he saw her, Greg dropped his mug on the floor, spilling brown liquid everywhere.

“Oh my stars…” Steven said. “ _ Amethyst and Peridot fused!!!” _

“Woah!” Ruby said, jumping off the couch. “Peridot! What’s it like?”

“It feels great!” Atlantisite said. “I wasn’t sure about it at first, but Lapis needed to be saved and Peridot couldn’t do it alone, so she asked Amethyst for help, and here I am!”

“Wait, where is Lapis?” Connie asked.

“Oh, she’s fine. She just warped back to the barn. I don’t really know what she’s doing there.”

Ruby and Greg shared a look.

“What?”

“I think you might have made Lapis jealous,” Greg said.

“Lapis? Jealous? Of little old Atlantisite? Lapis doesn’t like fusion anyway, why would she be jealous?”

Greg and Ruby shared another look.

“Can you two stop looking at each other like that? It’s making me self-conscious.” 

“No, don’t feel like that-”

“Did I hurt Lapis? Is she going to hate me now? What did I do wrong!” Atlantisite began to glow. She couldn’t hold herself together. Her two halves felt differently about Lapis, she could tell, and she didn’t like it. They could never stay together like this. She fell apart.

 

The rest of the day had passed uneventfully. Steven had never seen a Gem so excited as Peridot was after she unfused with Amethyst. She had retreated to a corner and began typing furiously on her tablet, and when asked what she was doing, she hissed and said she was documenting what it felt like to be a fusion.

Later, she had Amethyst fuse with Fluorite’s Peridot to make sure they formed the same fusion. Ruby clearly wasn’t happy that Peridot kept making Fluorite and Rhodonite unfuse, but they both stated adamantly that they didn’t mind. Ruby still refused to make Fluorite unfuse for the use of her Sapphire.

Now it was twilight. Lapis still hadn’t come back from the barn. The Off Colors had retreated back into their cave for the night, and all the humans had left. Ruby and Pearl were at the kitchen talking quietly about battle formations for when Blue Diamond arrived. Amethyst and Peridot were on Steven’s bed talking about Atlantisite. (“And her metal powers! She could  _ feel _ the metal all around her!” “That was all you, P.”) Steven was on the couch reading the third Percy Jackson book. Connie said the Magnus Chase series was her new obsession, but before Steven could read it he would have to read  _ all _ the other Rick Riordan books. She would give them to him in order so he didn’t mess up like he did with  _ The Unfamiliar Familiar _ .

The warp pad glowed, and they all turned to face it. Two figures appeared. One they recognized as Lapis, but the other Gem, about the same size, was new. Her skin was light pink, her wavy hair which reached down to her wide hips was a bit darker, and Steven saw a heart-shaped gemstone on her chest. She seemed to be trying to hide behind Lapis.

“Hey guys,” Lapis said. “I was just minding my own business up at the barn and uh… This Gem crash landed her ship in the cornfield. I pulled her out of the wreckage and she said she wanted to see Rose Quartz so I brought her here.”

And that was when Pearl lost it.


	8. Kunzite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to Twitter, the world is going to end tomorrow, so I felt obligated to post one last chapter (instead of, you know, doing homework like I should be doing). Before you laugh at me, no, I don't think the world is going to end, that's stupid. I just needed an excuse not to do work. Enjoy!

Pearl brandished her spear. She jumped over the counter, grabbed Lapis by the arm, and ripped her away from the pink Gem, who snarled and reached to her chest to pull out her weapon.

“Oh no you don’t, not if you don’t want me to poof and bubble you where you’ll never see Lapis again,” Pearl snapped. The pink Gem raised her hands in surrender, but didn’t drop her snarl. “Lapis, you said you pulled it out of a shipwreck? You saved its life?”

_ It? _ Steven had never heard anyone call a Gem “it” before. At least, not an uncorrupted one.

“Yes,” Lapis said warily. “I saved her from the fire. Couldn’t save the corn though.”

“How could you be so  _ stupid _ ?” Pearl rounded on Lapis, and the pink Gem attacked. Out of her Gem she pulled a pair of nunchucks  and pounced at Pearl. The others sprang to action. Before Steven could think to move, Ruby had caught the nunchucks with her gauntlet and Amethyst had jumped down from the second floor and wrapped the pink Gem with her whip, tripping her to her knees and completely immobilizing her.

Pearl turned back to the bound Gem, waving her spear in her face. “You set this up, didn’t you? You crash landed on purpose! Your kind just has to force itself onto any unsuspecting Gem, don’t you?”

“Enough, Pearl,” Ruby said.

Pearl blinked. “Enough? That- that  _ thing _ goes crash landing in a Gem-occupied territory, knowing very well what that could mean for it, then it comes into  _ my  _ house and attacks  _ me- _ ”

“Pearl, it wasn’t her fault. She thought you were threatening Lapis-”

“It’s too dangerous, Ruby. I know that you don’t mind its kind, but I can’t have something so unpredictable around Steven.”

“Wait, wait,” Steven said. “Don’t drag me into this. I don’t know who this Gem is but I’m sure she’s nice. I bet if Amethyst let her go, she wouldn’t try to hurt anyone now that she knows we’re all friends here.” At a glance from Steven, Amethyst dissipated her whip. The Gem didn’t move to stand. “What’s your name?” Steven asked her.

“Kunzite,” she said. She was stunningly pretty, with soft pink irises and full lips. Her bangs fell just short of her eyes. Her chest was almost flat, and under her collarbone sat a heart-shaped gem. 

Pearl hissed through her teeth. “I won’t have anything to do with a Kunzite. I want it out of my house.”

“But  _ why? _ ” Steven asked.

“ _ Because I said so. _ ”

“Pearl doesn’t like Kunzites,” Ruby supplied.

“That doesn’t exactly answer my question!” Steven said, exasperated.

Pearl pointed her spear at Ruby. “I swear to the stars if you say  _ anything _ -”

“Please,” Kunzite said, standing. “If I’m not wanted, I’ll go.”

“Kunzite,” Lapis said. Kunzite turned to her, her cheeks pink. Well, pinker. “Just wait right outside on the beach. I’ll talk some sense into Pearl.”

Kunzite nodded and hurried outside.

“It would be best if you told it to go back to where it came from and forget it ever met you, Lapis. Though I suppose the bond can’t be broken. You can always try.”

“Please, Pearl. Pronouns,” Ruby said.

“It’s an  _ it _ !” Pearl cried. “It’s a mistake! It never should have been created! Its kind is a parasite! You know it as well as I do, Ruby.”

“ _ Pearl _ ,” Ruby said. 

“Could someone please let us Gems who have no idea what’s going on in on the conversation?” Peridot asked from Steven’s bed.

“Please,” Lapis said. “Kunzite hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“You don’t know about Kunzites?” Pearl asked. “I knew that the younger Gems wouldn’t know, but you, Lapis?”

Lapis shrugged.

“Well that explains why you saved her!” Pearl laughed like a madman. “You have no idea- Okay, time for a lesson. Kunzites are Pink Diamond’s worst mistake.”

“Aside from getting shattered?”

“Well, yes, I suppose aside from getting shattered. Anyway, they’re malicious, evil- they’ll shatter you in an instant if you cross them-”

“Don’t be so harsh, Pearl,” Ruby said. “I get where you’re coming from, but they’re not  _ evil _ . They’re just overly loyal.”

“Yes, and that loyalty can lead them to shatter a Gem they’ve known for centuries at the bidding of a Gem they’ve known for days!”

“Hold it, guys,” Steven said. “You both are clearly biased against Kunzite, so I’d rather hear the story from her. I’m gonna go ask her.”

“Steven no she’s dangerous!” Pearl said. Steven was glad she was at least using the right pronouns now.

“She’s not dangerous! She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone until she thought you were attacking Lapis. You can’t stop me from talking to her.” Ignoring Pearl’s protests, Steven left the house.

He made his way down to the beach, not sure where to look for her. It was a calm night, the waves crashing gently against the rocks. There was that sweet smell of the dying summer in the air, that smell that brings back memories of the summers before. He remembered the first time he met Lapis. That had been on this beach too. He found himself making his way toward the spot where he had freed her from the mirror. He had spent that whole day bonding with Lapis, so it was understandable that he had wanted to help her, but Kunzite barely knew her. Why had she tried to protect her from Pearl? Was it because of the loyalty the Gems had been talking about? What triggered it?

Kunzite was sitting on top of the rock where Lapis had been freed from her imprisonment. She was gazing out across the ocean and didn’t turn to look at Steven until he was climbing the rock to sit next to her. She stared at him with a calm expression on her face until he had gotten comfortable.

“Have the Gems decided my fate?” she asked.

“No. And I won’t let them hurt you,” Steven said. “I don’t know what they have against you, but I know that you’re nice. I can tell these things with Gems. By the way, my name is Steven.”

“The Gems are probably right,” Kunzite said darkly. “I’m dangerous, and I shouldn’t be kept around.” She sighed. “All I wanted to do was find Rose Quartz, and I’ve managed to get myself into the exact mess I’ve been trying to avoid for the past ten thousand years.” Her fist clenched around the fabric on her knee. She was wearing a pink sundress, much like Lapis’s. If Steven didn’t know what he was looking for, he wouldn’t have noticed the darker pink diamond on its chest.

Steven had learned his lesson about owning up to being Rose Quartz in front of new Gems who wanted to meet her, at least not until he knew their intentions. “What mess?” he asked.

Kunzite looked at him curiously. “You don’t know? You seem to spend your time around Gems, yet you don’t know about the disgraceful Kunzites? I guess we’re so much of an embarrassment that we aren’t spoken of at all.”

“You look like a perfectly normal Gem to me,” he said. She didn’t appear to be a fusion, was about average height, and had no disfigurations; there was nothing Off Color about her.

“It has nothing to do with appearance. It’s more how we were made. You really don’t know?”

“No, but now I’m interested.” Steven laughed.

Kunzite laughed too, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re cute,” she said, pinching his cheek. “You deserve to know, even if it means you’ll hate me too.”

“I won’t hate you,” Steven said. 

Again, Kunzite smiled. “Ten thousand Earth years ago, Pink Diamond created the Kunzites. There were four hundred of us total, divided equally among the four Diamonds. We were meant to be artists - architects and designers - and we were great at what we did. We designed much of Homeworld’s architecture. We created statues and murals to honor the Diamonds.

“All was well for a few hundred years. We were artisans, so we weren’t involved with the more dangerous Gem exploits. However, we became unpredictable. Unlike most Gems, we knew what we wanted to do. We didn’t want to follow orders just because the Diamonds told us to. Sure, some of us were happy with our assigned roles - I, for one, was content making statues and murals of the Diamonds and leaving my imprint on Homeworld and the colonies, and I knew a Kunzite who planned kindergartens and loved it. But some of us wanted to pursue other forms of art. Some attempted music. Such a concept was never known on Homeworld, and undoubtedly since our fall it has been erased from the collective memory or only enjoyed by elites. Others tried dance or theater. Others took up martial arts, becoming superior warriors than the best Quartz soldier. 

“The Diamonds let us be. We weren’t hurting anyone, and were were loyal enough to follow direct orders when they were given. If a mural had to be created, one of us would step up and do it. If a temple or spire had to be built, a team would set aside their novel and design it. The elder three believed, for that short, sweet period, that Pink had created something wonderful. We were the best at whatever art form we tried. That included the art of war. At one point, the hundred Kunzites under White Diamond took over a heavily populated planet the size of Jupiter in the equivalent of one Earth year, with only the guidance of five Morganites. There were no casualties. Then they went back to Homeworld and composed three epics, a play, and a novel documenting it.

“So it was wonderful for a time. We were beloved by all of Gemkind. We were as honored as the Sapphires, though not nearly as rare. But then, everything changed. There was a Kunzite who went by the name of Blossom. (Some of us chose names for ourselves to distinguish ourselves from each other. As artists, we craved a sense of individuality.) Blossom was under White Diamond, so she had fought in the Morganite-Kunzite War. Story goes she had cracked her Gem nearly in half in battle and believed she was going to die. As she lay on the battlefield, her physical form flickering, she saw the pink blossoms of the flowers waving in the breeze and was inspired by their beauty. She says that from that moment on, she could control her form, and it felt as if her gem had never cracked. When she got back to Homeworld, she refused to let herself be healed by any healer. The fact that her cracked gem was on her forehead made it that much more noticeable and distinguished her that much more from the crowd. She took the name Blossom because of the blossoms that had enlightened her to the true meaning of life, as she called it.

“Back on Homeworld Blossom became a sculptor. She made installations in public areas, mostly interpretations of the plant life on the planet she had helped conquer. Some believed she was advocating against the colonization of inhabited planets, but, again, that wasn’t the problem. Blossom was assigned a Rose Quartz at all times to heal her if she exacerbated her crack. The Diamonds were afraid that she would end up shattering due to her own refusal of treatment, making her the first ever shattered Kunzite. They told her that if the Rose Quartz believed she was in danger of shattering, she could use her own judgement and perform treatment. Blossom was not happy with the conditions, but she agreed. 

“I was curious about this strange Gem, and in my curiosity I began hanging around her. I wanted to know her motives- why did she risk being shattered for the sake of individuality? Eventually she noticed me and we became friends. She told me it wasn’t the individuality, it was the symbolism of it all. She said that the experience of her gem cracking had made her the Gem she was. Losing the crack would be like losing all the personal growth she had achieved during the War.

“One day, Blossom was working on a metal installation. It required her to lift heavy sheets of metal until she could secure them in place. She was standing an unstable platform and slipped; the entire structure crashed down on top of her. Her Rose Quartz dug her out of the wreckage and found that she somehow managed not to poof, but her gem was nearly shattered into five pieces. She cried on the gem and healed it fully, and it seemed as if all would be well.

“As you can imagine, it wasn’t. Blossom became distracted, though most of the public didn’t know of it. But close friends like myself noticed that she began to become more distant from her work. She lost the drive she had had for the hundreds of years before. We noticed her increased affection for her Rose Quartz guard. She had always been indifferent to - if not resentful of - her presence, but from that point on she seemed fond of her. She begged the Diamonds to let her stay with her despite no longer being in danger of shattering, reportedly becoming aggressive when they seemed like they were going to refuse. She began allowing the Rose Quartz to give her feedback on her projects, even allowing her to sign her name underneath Blossom’s. Soon she was cutting herself off from her Kunzite friends, spending all her time away from her work with her Rose Quartz.”

“It sounds like she was in love with her,” Steven said. 

“She was,” Kunzite answered. “That was the problem. The final straw came when Blossom was assigned to make an interpretive sculpture of the Diamond Authority on Blue Diamond’s newest colony. It was about two hundred years after the Rose Quartz had saved her, so they had had a lot of time to bond with each other. Blossom would testify later that what happened was she went into a trance and woke up days later not to find a completed sculpture of the Diamonds, but instead of her Rose Quartz. The Diamonds took this as treason: to place the image a simple soldier in a location dedicated to them. They thought she was making a political statement, that the populus could overthrow the Diamonds. 

“Blossom and her Rose Quartz went on trial. A few Kunzites who knew them best showed up to testify.”

“Were you there?” Steven asked.

“Of course,” Kunzite said. “I was Blossom’s best friend by then.

“They were tried for conspiracy against the Diamond Authority. Despite their protests and the protests of all the Kunzites gathered, they were found guilty. White Diamond ordered that the Rose Quartz be shattered. Kunzite went mad. I had never seen anything like it in my life. She attacked all four Diamonds single handedly. She was a great warrior of course, but no match for the Diamonds. She was poofed. 

“White Diamond ordered that we all be interrogated. Myself, the other Kunzites, and the Rose Quartz. From the information she gathered, they connected the incident in which the Rose Quartz saved Blossom to Blossom’s obsession with her. Blossom herself was allowed to reform and testify for herself. When asked why she tried to protect the Rose Quartz, she spoke with a strange honesty and resignation. She said she couldn’t help it. She felt an irresistible loyalty toward the Rose Quartz and she couldn’t stand the thought of her being threatened. She said that she wanted with all her being to pledge her loyalty to the Diamond Authority, but she couldn’t. If anyone threatened her Rose Quartz, even a Diamond, she would destroy them. Yellow Diamond wanted to shatter her on the spot, but White made her calm down. She asked her when these feelings started, and Blossom said it was after the Rose Quartz saved her from shattering. 

“The Diamonds had gotten the information they needed. They ordered both Blossom and the Rose Quartz shattered for treason. The two refused to go down without a fight. They fused into a magnificent being and tried to escape, but we - the other Kunzites present, that is - were ordered to capture them. No fusion could stand up to six Kunzites, and this one was no exception. We separated, poofed, and bubbled them and gave them to the Diamonds. I can only assume they were shattered, though thankfully we were not made to watch.”

“You didn’t even help your own friend?” Steven asked. “You knew she was going to be killed and you didn’t help her escape?”

“I had no choice. You wouldn’t understand what it’s like, sitting in a room with four Diamonds, one of whom was your own. You’ve never felt the call of a Diamond, and undoubtedly it’s ten times as strong to a Kunzite. We couldn’t resist a Diamond’s direct order. Only one thing could force us to do so, and none of us but Blossom had gotten into that predicament yet.

“There had been reporters at the trial, and word began to spread about Blossom’s shattering and the surrounding circumstances. It was an easy connection to make that saving Blossom’s life had caused her loyalty to the Rose Quartz. Other Gems got the idea to try it themselves. They set up Kunzites in situations where they could be shattered, then ‘saved’ them from death. Each time, the Kunzite developed this loyalty - love, really - for their savior, even if they knew they had been set up. We became paranoid and began finding ways to protect ourselves from these attacks. Our strength was that it was difficult to fool us when we were paying attention, but some Gems still managed to find ways to save us. The numbers of free Kunzites began to dwindle. We pleaded to the Diamonds for protection: we didn’t know what this was or why it was happening, we just knew that we were being targeted for our strange weakness. 

“The Diamonds took pity on us. Clearly it was not our fault, it was a defect in our making. Pink claimed to have no idea what had happened, and I believe her. The Diamonds passed a law declaring that any Gem who saved a Kunzite’s life for the purpose of obtaining her loyalty would be shattered. Many were. Those whose lieges were shattered realized that after their deaths, they were free. They knew they had been coerced into their loyalty, and didn’t grieve. 

“For several hundred years it went on like this. The fear of being shattered was strong enough that nobody dared save a Kunzite except for out of necessity. All Gems who had newly attained a Kunzite had to report directly to the Diamonds for a trial, in which the Kunzite - newly and therefore not fully loyal - would be taken at her word for whether she had been deceived or if her new master was honest. Honest Gems would be spared while the others would be shattered.”

“The Diamonds just believed whatever you said?” Steven asked, incredulous. “What if you just didn’t want to be owned so you lied?”

“We Kunzites were known for our honesty about our owners. We accepted our fate when we were honestly saved. We didn’t wish harm on our saviors; we were in love with them. In the early days after being tricked, we hated the Gems we bonded to, so it was easy to tell the Diamonds the truth. 

“We all thought this system was working, but soon we realized that Kunzites were going missing. Projects would go unfinished or friends would report it; our collective paranoia began to set in again. The Diamonds became aware of the disappearances and began locking us in their palaces when we weren’t actively working on a project. Still, whenever one of us went out to work on something, there was a 50% chance we would not return.

“Soon, our number was cut about in half. Then, once again, disaster struck upon us. A whole army of Kunzites, all those who had gone missing, marched into the central palace of the Diamonds on Homeworld, where all four were gathered. They had been ordered by their captors to shatter the Diamonds and give the government into the hands of the people, or that is what they told us as we tried to fight them back. It took all two hundred Kunzites loyal to the Diamond Authority plus all the Quartzes in the vicinity to poof the kidnapped Kunzites, crushing the small rebellion. It was then that the Diamonds had enough. They - or, Yellow in particular - declared our entire vein of Gems too dangerous to be kept around. She ordered the Quartzes to capture us that we would be shattered. No Diamond but Pink protested this, and since she was the youngest, the elder three silenced her. 

“If us Kunzites had any one unifying quality, aside from our defect, that is, it was our self-preservation instinct. We grabbed all the bubbled Kunzites we could and ran for it, hoping that when we escaped we could break their loyalty to whomever it was that had captured them. We  _ had  _ saved them from the Diamonds, hadn’t we? The Quartzes alone were no match for us, and Pink did her best to stop the Diamonds from pursuing us themselves, so not many of us were captured. Perhaps seventy total, including the bubbled Kunzites we couldn’t save.

“From then on, we were in hiding. We were declared Public Enemies number 1 through 329, and any Gem who shattered us or turned us in to the Diamonds would be rewarded with her own Pearl. Most of us went underground into hiding, creating little secret societies. The Diamonds created robonoids programmed to track us down and shatter us. Some, like myself, dared to travel off planet to escape the persecution. It wasn’t easy stealing a ship, and the thought of living away from Gemkind was even more frightening. But I did it, though the four other Kunzites I was living with in hiding refused to join me. I’ve been in hiding since then, traveling in the same ship that I stole millennia ago. When Pink Diamond came to colonize Earth, I followed her to this system to watch from a distance. I was always fond of her; she was my Diamond and she never wished for the persecution of the Kunzites. When she was shattered by a Rose Quartz, I was devastated. I retreated to Neptune, where I have been living since then. I had been making visits back to Earth every few years to search for the surviving Crystal Gem rebellion, and my ship had been worn to the point of danger. I was in the process of fixing it when five Rubies arrived, looking for a Jasper. Upon asking, they told me the location of Gems on Earth. 

“After they left, I doubled my efforts fixing my ship. I had to see the Crystal Gems, I  _ had  _ to speak to Rose Quartz. I just wanted to know her motives. I had been fond of Rose Quartzes since Blossom, and I was willing to take this one at her word. Clearly, my efforts to make my ship flyable failed. I crash landed into that cornfield, and the Lapis Lazuli pulled me out of the wreckage. The ship exploded, and the shrapnel would have undoubtedly shattered me if I was still inside. Lapis saved my life, and I wish she had just let me die. I had taken pride in never having been saved, and now that’s all over. I am no longer the master of myself.”

“That’s okay,” Steven said, putting his hand on top of hers. “Lapis is really nice, and she won’t ask anything of you. She won’t take advantage of you like Gems used to do. Ruby will talk sense into Pearl, and then you’ll become an official Crystal Gem!”

“So you  _ are _ the Crystal Gems,” she said. “Would you, by any chance, know where Rose Quartz is?”

Steven was tempted to say yes. But something made him not trust her yet. If she had spent her whole life trying to avenge Pink Diamond, he wasn’t sure that she hadn’t once belonged to her. From what he just heard, it was best not to admit you are the one who killed a Kunzite’s master. “Rose Quartz is… gone.”

“Gone? Like, shattered?”

“Not shattered, just gone. She no longer exists. It would be best if the Gems explain.”  _ And protect me from you, just in case _ .

“So there’s no way to talk to her? Too bad. I’ve been waiting to do so forever. I’ve planned out the entire conversation.”

“You sound like Jasper,” Steven said, suddenly making the connection.

“The Jasper the Rubies were looking for?”

“Yeah. She was sent to Earth by Yellow Diamond to report on this big geoweapon that we bubbled later. Anyway that she found out that I- that Rose Quartz’s legacy was living on, and she began to take the offense. She began attacking the Crystal Gems. Long story short she managed to get corrupted, but right before she turned into a monster she told me that she was doing everything for Pink. She was so devoted to Pink Diamond, just like you.”

Kunzite nodded. “The call of a Diamond is irresistible for most Gems. This Jasper probably felt towards Pink something very similar to what Kunzites feel towards their masters. I can tell that Jasper hurt you, Steven. I can hear it it your voice when you speak of her. I beg you not to take it personally. Jasper was undoubtedly in emotional distress. She had to do whatever necessary to avenge her Diamond. Especially for such a young Gem, the pain of losing someone so central to your life… it’s unbearable. It can drive you mad-

“But that’s beside the point. The point is that you shouldn’t judge a Gem for what she does for her Diamond.”

“I’ll try not to,” Steven said. “I won’t judge a Kunzite for what she does for her liege either.”

“Thank you, Steven.”

“Let’s go back inside. I’m sure Pearl has been made to see sense by now.” The two climbed down from the rock and began walking back towards the house. “Why does Pearl hate you so much?”

Kunzite was silent for a moment. “She is undoubtedly jealous. Back on Homeworld, for a couple hundred years, Kunzites were treated like glorified Pearls. When we claimed a master, we had all of our former status while doubling as servants. She undoubtedly wishes she was as powerful as one of us. Even a Diamond’s Pearl is not as powerful as the lowliest Gem’s Kunzite.”

 

By the time Steven and Kunzite returned, Pearl and Ruby had informed the group about the Kunzites. Pearl had gone off topic multiple times, but Ruby had managed to keep the majority of the account objective. Lapis was infuriated. The last thing she needed in her life was a shadow. If the others were right, by saving Kunzite she had set her onto the path of falling quickly in love with her. She never should have pulled her out of the wreckage. 

Yet, when Kunzite and Steven walked through the door, Lapis’s resentment vanished. None of this was Kunzite’s fault. She could no more resist her programming than a Pearl could hers, and Lapis had never blamed the Pearls. This would not have to change anything. She would make it her duty to protect her Kunzite, and that would be all. She would make her understand that she would be happier with Peridot, and wasn’t her happiness what was most important to Kunzite?

She could make it work.

“Kunzite told me about the history of Kunzites, and I’ve decided that she is going to be staying with us,” Steven said. “Pearl, you’re going to have to accept her as she is. I get that you don’t like Kunzites, but I don’t think you should be so quick to make generalizations. Kunzite is really nice! She knows a lot about the buildings on Homeworld so she might be able to help us if we need it.”

“We’ve reached the same conclusion,” Ruby said. “After some discussion, Pearl has agreed to let Kunzite stay. We’re looking forward to having you on the team, Kunzite.”

“Wait,” Lapis said. “Kunzite, you don’t have to be a Crystal Gem if you don’t want to. Nobody here is forcing you.”

“Are you a Crystal Gem?” Kunzite asked Lapis.

She shrugged. “Technically.”

“Then I have no choice. I am too.”

“Yay!” Steven cried. “New Crystal Gem!” He hugged Kunzite, who hesitated a moment before putting an arm around him too. 

“I came here to find Rose Quartz,” Kunzite said after separating Steven from herself. “Steven told me that she no longer exists, but you could tell what happened to her better than he could.”

“You didn’t tell her?” Ruby asked. Steven shook his head. “Rose Quartz fell in love with a human. She conceived and gave birth to Steven, losing her life in the process. Steven has her gem, but he doesn’t have her memories.”

Kunzite blinked. “You have her gem?” Steven pulled up his shirt to reveal his gem. “You’re some human-gem hybrid! You’re a miracle of nature! But you’re also Rose Quartz.”

“He’s not her, Kunzite,” Lapis said. “He has no memory of her actions. He wants peace among Gems. He would never shatter anyone. I was trapped in a mirror by the other Crystal Gems for thousands of years, and he set me free. He’s better than she was.”

“Oh,” Kunzite said. “Okay. Well, I guess that makes my mission failed.” She deflated a bit.

“It’s been a long day,” Steven said. “Why don’t we all go to bed and regroup in the morning? We can keep working on your plan tomorrow, Ruby, but before then we should all get some sleep.”

“What plan?” Kunzite asked.

“You’ll learn in the morning!” Steven said. “But now, sleep!”

Ruby seconded and Peridot thirded the notion. Kunzite was offered the couch and Lapis, the earlier incident at the Gem shipwreck pushed from her mind, slept on a blanket behind the kitchen counter. Long before Lapis fell asleep but long after all the others did, Lapis heard Steven’s snores from his bed.


	9. The Chains of Corruption

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry for the long wait (*cough* again). It's just that the recent episodes, aka A Single Pale Rose and onwards, have pretty much destroyed any theories I intended to put into this fanfic. I didn't really expect them to be right - basically I planned to include the most outrageous of my theories to make for an interesting story - but now I don't even have the pleasure of wondering whether or not I was actually right and hoping that I would be able to brag about it if it turned out I really WAS right... So anyway, the point of this is that I want to ask your opinion: do you guys want me to continue writing this (so you can see what could possibly be more outrageous than Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz being the same Gem) or should I stop publishing? Anyway, enjoy this chapter! At least Rebecca didn't get to this part before me.

Despite all the developments of the day, all Steven could think about was Jasper. Not Atlantisite or the implications of her forming, not Lapis and her blatant jealousy of Amethyst, not even Kunzite or her entire vein of defective Gems. Just Jasper.

Talking with Kunzite had got him thinking. Scratch that, he had been wondering off and on about Jasper ever since she was corrupted. That was the first time he had ever seen any humanity in her: as she lay there, broken, too miserable to even fight the insanity taking hold. It had taken Kunzite to make him fully understand why.

_Because of what you did to my Diamond! My Diamond! Your Diamond! Pink Diamond!_

He could hear her voice as clearly as if she was standing before him. He shivered and rolled over in his bed, his stomach clenching. He hated thinking about that day, or all the other Gems he couldn’t save, but he couldn’t stop them from haunting him. Jasper, Bismuth, Topaz, Zircon… who knew what became of that Zircon? He had wanted to bubble her and take her with him, but he was too afraid of being caught by the Diamonds. How selfish of him.

Jasper hadn’t been selfish. She had dedicated her whole life to serving Pink. Even after Pink was shattered, she wouldn’t have rested until she had taken her revenge on Rose Quartz. Now he knew why. Jasper had loved Pink. Maybe not quite the way a Kunzite loved her master, but she must have felt a bond just as strong. It was as if… as if Jasper was Ruby and Pink was her Sapphire. Steven had watched Ruby driven to near insanity in her grief after Sapphire was corrupted; Jasper must have been the same way.

Steven had stopped Jasper from avenging her Sapphire.

Steven squeezed his eyes shut to fend off tears. He couldn’t be thinking this way about every enemy he had to face. If he humanized them too much in his head, he would never be able to fight anyone. But how could he help himself? After hours, his mind calmed enough to let him fall asleep.

 

He woke up in a gray hallway. Well, "woke up" wasn’t the right phrase. He could tell he was dreaming. But it was one of those lucid dreams, like when he had helped Kiki with her sister issues.

He looked to his left and to his right. Each end of the hallway turned at a ninety degree angle so he couldn’t see where they led. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all a monotonous grey, and the hallway was dimly lit, though no light source was visible.

From one end of the hallway, he could hear nothing, but from the other, a roar at indistinct intervals. It echoed through the hallway, chilling him. Steven’s curiosity got the better of him, and he began walking toward the noise.

He made the ninety degree turn to find that the hallway continued to another ninety degree turn. He ran to the end, made the turn, then found himself face to face with a heavy metal door. At his touch, the door opened to reveal a huge room. It was bland and grey as the hallway, except for the Gem monster on the far end. It lunged when it saw him.

Steven screamed and put up his arms, but stopped when he realized it couldn’t hurt him. It was chained to the wall. No, it was chained to something beyond the wall; the chains attached to each of its legs disappeared into four holes in the wall. The monster roared and grunted, struggling against its bindings to get at him.

There was a yell of effort from beyond the wall, and the monster was pulled back. “Calm down! What’s gotten into you, you brute?” Steven recognized the voice, and his heart jumped into his chest. He ran from the monster, made one, two, three, four turns, and was faced with an identical door. He placed his hand on it, and it opened.

There, kneeling on the ground, with shackles around each of her limbs, was Jasper. Her hair was ratty and tangled, her clothes were ripped. Her sunken eyes looked up at Steven and narrowed. “You,” she hissed. “Why am I not even surprised?”

“Jasper…” Steven took a few hesitant steps toward her.

“Stay away from me, Rose! I already told you I’ll never accept help from you.”

Steven suddenly found himself angry. “I’m not Rose Quartz!” he yelled. “How many times do I have to say it?! Yes, I have her gem but I don’t have any of her memories!”

“That’s exactly what Rose Quartz would say. Why are you hiding like this? What pleasure does taking this hideous form give you?”

“Well that’s not very nice…” Steven shook his head. Letting hurt feelings get in his way would not help anyone. “Look, Jasper, I’m not really sure how I make this dream power work, and I’m not sure how much longer I have here. But I want to help you. If I can talk to you now, it means you’re still in there. Your corrupted form hasn’t replaced you, it’s just overpowered you. Like when Lapis held Malachite at the bottom of the ocean! If I cut these chains, it might free you.” Steven looked down and realized his mother’s sword was in his hand. When had that gotten there?

“No! Leave me!” Jasper said. “After shattering my Diamond, you think I would trust you to help me?”

“Mom didn’t shatter Pink!” Steven yelled.

“What?”

“Earlier this summer I was taken to Homeworld to go on trial. Blue and Yellow Diamond were both there. My lawyer, a Zircon, figured out that it couldn’t have been Mom - Rose - who shattered Pink Diamond. It had to be someone high-ranking. Someone who Pink Diamond and her whole entourage trusted. Someone like a Diamond.”

Jasper stared for a second, then laughed. “You think I’m going to believe you? How stupid do you think I am? This is your last warning, Rose: leave me to rot in my corruption. It’s a more honorable fate than becoming one of your mindless soldiers.”

“Jasper, you don’t even have to become a Crystal Gem just let me help-” 

“LEAVE!” Jasper lunged at him, and Steven jolted awake.

 

He sat bolt upright in bed. Kunzite and Amethyst were standing over him.

“Are you okay?” Kunzite asked.

“Sorry,” Steven said, holding his head. “Nightmare.”

“Happens all the time, Funzite,” Amethyst said. “Get used to it.”

“Funzite?” she asked.

“Yeah, it doesn’t really have a great ring to it. Gimme some time and I’ll come up with a better nickname.”

“Thanks?”

“Alright guys, remember the schedule for today,” Pearl said from the kitchen. “Once Lars, Sadie, Greg, and Connie show up, the five of us and Steven are going to sky arena for sword lessons. Everyone else is out searching for corruptions. I’ve revised the teams so that yesterday's… drama… doesn’t happen again. Amethyst and Ruby - where’s Ruby? Lapis and the twins, Rhodonite and Peridot. Fluorite and Padparadscha will both stay here to keep track of everyone and work on the battle plans… Seriously, where is Ruby? Why isn’t she up yet?”

“Um, Pearl?” Kunzite called sheepishly. “Who should I go with?”

Pearl studied Kunzite disapprovingly. “Well, you’ll probably want to go with Lapis, won’t you?” Kunzite didn’t argue. “So you, her, and Rutile will be a group of three.”

“Please, Pearl,” Lapis said quickly. “Maybe if Kunzite goes with another group, she won’t become attached to me as quickly. Move me to Peridot’s group and put her with Rutile.”

Kunzite crossed her arms.

“Wait!” Steven said, sensing that feelings were about to be hurt. “Steven has a better idea! Why doesn’t Kunzite make a group with me? I can be more useful out hunting Gem monsters than training, and this way nobody has to…” get jealous “...compromise.”

“Except for Kunzite,” Kunzite said under her breath.

“Hey, I’m sorry, Kunzite. I can’t pretend to understand what goes on with Kunzites, but I’ll assure you that everything’ll work out. Lapis doesn’t need protecting, especially not if she’s with Rutile. They’re both strong Gems. And what’s even better is that you get to bond with me!”

Kunzite sighed. “I know you’re right. It’s just… It’s a Kunzite thing. Nobody should be expected to understand. Alright, let’s do this.”

“Great!” Pearl said. “So, Steven and Kunzite, why don’t you head to… hm… I don’t think we have anyone searching around the Beta kindergarten.”

“Didn’t we just clear all the corruptions from out of there?” Amethyst asked.

“Those corruptions were brought there by Jasper.” The name sent a shiver down Steven’s spine. “For all we know, more could have just wandered in there since then. Oh, this was so much easier when we had Garnet’s future-”

The temple door opened and Ruby appeared. “Oh, Ruby!” Pearl said. “Just on schedule! I changed up the teams and you’re with Amethyst now.”

“Ready to go, Ruby?” Amethyst asked. The two warped away.

“I’ll go get dressed and then we can go too, Kunzite,” Steven said.

“Cool,” she answered.

By the time Steven had dressed, all the other Gems had left. He and Kunzite warped to the Beta Kindergarten.

“Kindergartens have always creeped me out,” Kunzite said.

“Me too.” The Kindergarten still looked the same. Nothing moved. A dry breeze stung his face with sand.

“To think that Gems are made in places like this. It’s a place where life begins, and yet to create life it sucks it out of the planet. It’s wrong.”

“Weren’t you made in a kindergarten?” Steven asked.

“Of course. All Gems were. That doesn’t mean I approve of it.” Steven must have looked confused. “How do I explain this? Gems are a parasite, Steven. The one thing we’re good at is destroying life to expand our own reign. I guess that’s why some of us like humans so much.”

“Hey!”

“You can’t deny it. You humans are almost worse than us Gems. Give you some decent spaceships and weapons and magic powers, and you would be competing with us for control of the galaxy. It would be a war like nobody’s ever seen. Hopefully we’d wipe each other out and the cosmos could be peaceful again.”

“Kunzite…”

“I’m sorry, Steven. I start to think like this when I’m in a bad mood.”

“Because I split you up with Lapis?”

“No, no. Well, yes, but also no. The programmed part of me is upset and worried about not being with Lapis, but the _me_ part is even more upset that I have to be like this about her.”

“Well, at least it wasn’t Pearl who saved you.”

She laughed. “You’re right. At least it wasn’t your Pearl.”

 

They didn’t find anything at the Beta Kindergarten or the surrounding areas. That didn’t stop the day from completely exhausting Steven. Yet when he went to bed, a sudden thought kept him awake. Jasper didn’t want his help, certainly, but he knew of another corrupted Gem who would definitely accept it. He just had to figure out how to get into her head. He concentrated on her name as he drifted out of consciousness.

_Sapphire… Sapphire… Sapphire…_

He was in the grey corridor again, and his heart started pounding. He had done it! He immediately headed to the left, making two turns and pressing his hands to the door. It opened, but it wasn’t Sapphire. It was Jasper.

“Rose!” she said, her eyes wide.

“Jasper! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- I’ll go-”

“No, no!” Jasper said quickly. “Rose- I mean- Steven?” She said his name hesitantly.

“That’s me,” he said.

“Listen- I called you back here.”

“What?! Why?! Look, if you’re just going to yell at me like you always do, I have more important things to do. I’ve got a corrupted friend I was trying to contact.”

“Please, Ro- _Steven_. I thought about what you said about not shattering Pink Diamond, and if it’s true, if you - or, if Rose - really didn’t shatter her… I want your help.”

“Jasper…” Steven felt the tears coming. This was no time for tears!

“Just tell me the Zircon’s logic," Jasper said impatiently.

Steven nodded, then quickly recounted what Zircon had said.

“That… that actually makes sense. Zircons never fail to impress me. Especially when their gems are on the line.”

“So you believe it? You believe that Mom didn’t shatter Pink?”

“I guess I have to,” she sighed. “Steven.” There was fire in her eyes. “Cut the chains and let me free. I don’t know how I know, but that’s the way to uncorrupt me. I won’t stay with you Crystal Gems, and if you try to make me I’ll have to fight you. I need to go avenge my Diamond. I need to go find whoever it is that shattered her and do the same to them.”

“Jasper, I won’t let you shatter anyone.”

She rolled her eyes. “What do you expect me to do, kindly poof them and keep them in a bubble forever? Do you really think that’s what they deserve after shattering someone?”

“Nobody deserves to be shattered. I would think that you of all Gems would know that.”

“So what are you going to do? Leave me like this?”

Steven could see the fear in her eyes behind the defiance. It took a lot of effort to say what he did. “Yes.”

She closed her eyes, her face contorting into a grimace. “Fine. I won’t shatter anyone. Please, just let me out.”

“Thank you, Jasper.” Rose’s sword was in Steven’s hand again. Four times he struck, and the chains dissolved. The monster roared in the other room, suddenly finding itself free.

“Steven, go!” Jasper said. “I’ll deal with the monster. You go unbubble me.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” he said, as the dream faded away.

 

Steven almost fell down the stairs in his effort to get to the Temple door. Thankfully, he didn’t wake up Lapis and Kunzite, the former of whom was sleeping behind the kitchen counter and the latter of whom was on the couch.

Steven entered his room, which he could do easily now. “I want to go to the real basement, please.” The pole appeared and Steven slid down it, careful not to fall on his face this time. He hadn’t been sure that he would even be able to access this room. He always thought it was Garnet’s room, and he had learned the hard way that if you break apart a fusion, her room disappears. So it must not have been.

It took a few minutes, but he finally found and retrieved Jasper’s bubble. He had second thoughts about popping it. What if Jasper attacked him? What if she was still a corruption? So much could go wrong.

But if he could convert Jasper, at least to not actively attacking them, it would be a victory. One more life changed, one more Gem saved from the tyranny of Homeworld. That was what Steven wanted. The more Gems that thought like the Crystal Gems, the higher the probability that he could make peace between Earth and Homeworld. He popped the bubble.

Jasper’s gem glowed. For a moment, he thought she was growing into her corruption, but then she formed. She was normal. She even looked healthy, unlike how she had looked chained to her corrupted form.

Jasper squinted up at the bubbled Gems, then looked at Steven. She got down on one knee and Steven took an instinctive step backwards.

Jasper put a hand on his head. “Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome.” He wiggled out from under her hand, and Jasper stood.

“What is this place?”

“We’re in the Temple. Everyone else is asleep, and they don’t know I let you out, so we should probably be quiet. If you really won’t stay, it’s best if they don’t know you’re out there. I don’t want them thinking they have to hunt you again.”

“So you… trust me?”

“Yeah,” Steven said. “I think I do.”

“You shouldn’t,” Jasper said, "because if I find out anything that puts you back on the suspect list, I will kill before I think."

"You said you wouldn't shatter anyone!" Steven's heart skipped a beat. So he  _had_ made a terrible mistake.

"I intend to keep my word, but that doesn't mean I can't poof you." Then she added with a malicious grin: "Who knows if you can even poof? Cross me, and I'll have a lot of fun finding out." She climbed out of the bubble room and Steven followed her with his heart in his throat. He was unarmed, and even if he did have his mother's sword, he doubted he could beat Jasper in a fight. It was best to just see her out and hope she never came to suspect him again. Yes, that is what he would do. Set her free and never think about her again

“Jasper!” Steven said. “When we leave the basement we have to be really quiet. Lapis and Kunzite are sleeping there and they might wake up.”

“Lapis Lazuli? The one who I came back to earth with?”

An image of Malachite flashed through Steven’s head. “Uh, yeah. The one and only.”

“Great,” she grunted. “Who’s Kunzite?”

“You don’t-?” He guessed she was too young to know about the Kunzites, and he wasn’t in the mood to inform her. “She’s new.”

They reached the main door to the Temple and it opened for Steven. Jasper silently stepped onto the warp pad. She whispered: “Again, thank you. I never thought I’d say that to someone with Rose Quartz’s Gem, but…" A look of confusion passed over Jasper's face. "Why is this warp pad inactive?”

“What?” Steven whispered. “It’s not inactive. I used it like right before I went to sleep.”

“Well it’s not working now. Is this some sort of trap?!”

“No, that’s not it,” Steven said, realization dawning.

“What do you mean?”

“Corrupted Gems can’t use Gem technology.” He thought back to the half-uncorrupted Centipeetle. “It must not recognize you as an actual Gem. You’re still corrupted.”

“This is perfect,” she hissed.

“I can warp you where you want to go-”

“No, just let me out the front door. I’ll figure it out from there.”

“Alright.”

He opened the door for her silently and she stepped out into the end of summer breeze. “I doubt you'll see me again, and I think that’s a blessing for both of us.”

Steven was beginning to understand. Jasper had not meant her threat to dissuade him of her trust in him, she had just come off too strong. She no longer believed that his mother had shattered Pink Diamond, but she still believed threatening him was a necessary safety measure. Or maybe old habits just died hard. “Jasper, I think that someday we’ll be fighting on the same side of this war.”

She nodded, confirming his theory. “Maybe then we’ll meet again, but for now… Stay safe. You’re a formidable opponent.”

He watched as she walked away. He didn’t go inside until she was out of sight behind the cliff.

 

Steven’s heart was lighter as he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. He had saved Jasper. Finally. He had figured out how to reverse corruption… almost. Now, just to focus on Sapphire…

He woke up in the corridor again. It was identical to Jasper’s, but he could feel a different presence this time. He knew he had come to the right place. He ran down the familiar corridor and pressed on the door. It opened to reveal Sapphire.

She was in shackles too, but she wasn’t on her knees as Jasper was. She couldn’t fight the pull from her corruption and had been pulled all the way back to the point that she was lifted from the ground and pressed spread-eagle against the wall.

“Steven?!” she cried.

“Sapphire! I know how to help you! I can’t uncorrupt you completely, but I can make it so that you’re in control again.” 

“What? How?”

“If I cut the chains, it’ll free you from the corruption. I can-” 

“No!” she said. “You can’t do that.”

“Why not? It worked on-” He stopped himself.

“Who did it work on?” A pause. “Oh. Really, Steven? Jasper?”

“How’d you know that?”

“Future vision, Steven. It only worked on Jasper because she’s physically strong enough to keep the corruption at bay. I’m not. You’ve seen what I have become. There’s no way that I can fight that thing singlehandedly. If you cut the chains, it would have to be a constant mental battle for dominance. That’s not freedom from corruption, Steven. There’s always the fear that it will take over suddenly and hurt someone.”

“Well if you just need to be stronger-”

“No,” Sapphire said. “Don’t even suggest bringing her into this.”

Steven was going to suggest that she fuse into Garnet; she could definitely take a corruption. But of course that was selfish. It would mean subjecting Ruby to that daily battle. “I’m sorry. I knew that was wrong as I thought it. So then how do we find the right way to cure you?”

“You’ll have to follow Ruby’s plan. It’s the only way that might work.”

“If taking on a Diamond is the only way that might work I really don’t like our chances. And how do you know about her plan?”

“Ruby talks to my bubble. I can still hear her. Anyway, it won’t be an easy path, of course. Gems will be lost, hearts will be broken. The specifics are blurry, but it just might work in the end. It might just bring us to the end of the war once and for all.”

“And it’ll uncorrupt you and reunite you with Ruby?”

“I hope. Steven, you have to go now. I hate you seeing me like this. Please don’t try to contact me again. And please don’t tell Ruby that this happened. Keep it from her as long as you can.”

“Alright,” Steven said. “I’ll see you when we’ve found the cure.”


End file.
